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

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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: 15 1/4 × 19 7/16 in. (38.7 × 49.4 cm)
Sheet: 15 1/4 × 19 7/16 in. (38.7 × 49.4 cm)
Mount: 20 13/16 × 28 3/8 in. (52.9 × 72.1 cm)
Classification: Photographs
Credit Line: Gilman Collection, Purchase, William Talbott Hillman Foundation Gift, 2005
Object Number: 2005.100.555
Curatorial Department: Photographs

More Artwork

By Francis Frith

In the same medium

From the same time and place

The Rameseum of El-Kurneh, Thebes, Francis Frith British, Albumen silver print from glass negative — The Rameseum of El-Kurneh, Thebes
Francis Frith
1857

On the Wharfe, Bolton Abbey, William Callow British, Watercolor — On the Wharfe, Bolton Abbey
William Callow
September 30, 1858

Views of the Crystal Palace, Philip Henry Delamotte British, Albumen silver prints from glass negatives — Views of the Crystal Palace
Attributed to Philip Henry Delamotte
ca. 1859

[Egyptian Obelisk, "Cleopatra's Needle," in Alexandria, Egypt], Francis Frith British, Albumen silver print from glass negative — [Egyptian Obelisk, "Cleopatra's Needle," in Alexandria, Egypt]
Attributed to Francis Frith
ca. 1870

Stroh Violin, George Evans & Co. English, Mahogany and aluminum, British — Stroh Violin
George Evans & Co.
first quarter 20th century

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