ticketsMember | Make a donation

[Egyptian Obelisk, "Cleopatra's Needle," in Alexandria, Egypt]

Attributed to Francis Frith British
ca. 1870
Not on view
Here the Central Park obelisk sits in its late nineteenth-century environment, a neglected area of the Alexandria harbor. What this photograph did not capture was the new buildings going up nearby, indicating the harbor was undergoing modernization. It was this development that created an atmosphere in which Egyptian nationalists in 1880 argued that the obelisk should remain in Egypt as a symbol of the country’s antiquity. However, Khedive Ismail had already given the obelisk to the United States, and Henry Gorringe was quickly arranging its transportation to New York City. Frith, and later his staff, captured pictures that illustrated Egypt’s antiquity, frequently with local people as part of the scene. People who had traveled to Egypt, or perhaps only dreamed of traveling there, could choose a series of prints from the company’s stock and have them bound as a souvenir, much like Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae published some three hundred years earlier.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: [Egyptian Obelisk, "Cleopatra's Needle," in Alexandria, Egypt]
  • Artist: Attributed to Francis Frith (British, Chesterfield, Derbyshire 1822–1898 Cannes, France)
  • Date: ca. 1870
  • Medium: Albumen silver print from glass negative
  • Dimensions: Image: 15.5 x 20.8 cm (6 1/8 x 8 3/16 in.)
  • Classification: Photographs
  • Credit Line: Funds from various donors, 2004
  • Object Number: 2004.217
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs

More Artwork

More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
The Gossiping Photographer at Hastings
Francis Frith
1864
Egypt, Sinai and Palestine. Supplementary Volume, Francis Frith British, Albumen silver prints
Egypt, Sinai and Palestine. Supplementary Volume
Francis Frith
1860s
Upper Egypt and Ethiopia
Francis Frith
1860s
Sinai and Palestine, Francis Frith British, Albumen silver prints
Sinai and Palestine
Francis Frith
1860s
Cedars of Lebanon, Francis Frith British, Albumen silver print from glass negative
Cedars of Lebanon
Francis Frith
ca. 1857

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.