[Antiquities in the Museum at Cherchell, Algeria]
John Beasley Greene American
Not on view
A founding member of the Société française de photographie in Paris in 1854, Greene was also a talented Egyptologist. At just twenty-one years old he was inducted into the esteemed Société asiatique, which was devoted to the study of ancient ruins and artifacts. In this composition, alternating passages of light and dark accentuate the forms of three Roman sculptural fragments recently excavated in Algeria. The tableau demonstrates both the surprise of new encounters and the process of methodically ordering and classifying objects.