The Great Pyramid and The Great Sphinx

1858

Not on view

In 1856 Frith set out on the first of three trips to the Middle East, launching a highly successful career as a photographer and publisher of foreign topographic views. It is miraculous that he succeeded in making monumental and theatrical views such as this one, for the relatively new glass negatives required him to transport his enormous camera, sheets of glass, and bottles of chemicals through the desert and to coat, expose, and develop his plates before the collodion emulsion dried. "With the thermometer at 110° in my tent," wrote Frith, "the collodion actually boiled when poured upon the glass plate."

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Exhibition History

Title: The Great Pyramid and The Great Sphinx
Artist: Francis Frith (British, Chesterfield, Derbyshire 1822–1898 Cannes, France)
Date: 1858
Medium: Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions: Image: 38.7 x 49.3 cm (15 1/4 x 19 7/16 in.)
Classification: Photographs
Credit Line: Gilman Collection, Purchase, William Talbott Hillman Foundation Gift, 2005
Object Number: 2005.100.555
Curatorial Department: Photographs

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