Palais de Karnak
Maxime Du Camp
French, 1822–1894
c. 1849
A salted-paper photograph by Maxime Du Camp that documents a carved relief from the Karnak temple, aiming to record the form and inscriptions of ancient Egyptian stonework.
You first notice two tall, stylized figures in profile locked in an embrace, their linear bodies and surrounding hieroglyphs cut into the weathered surface and framed beneath a spreading winged emblem, the rough texture and subtle tonal range of the print making the stone feel tactile and ancient.
As an early example of archaeological photography, this 1849 print helped introduce European audiences to Egyptian monuments and demonstrated photography’s power as a precise documentary and scholarly medium.
Medium
Salted paper print from a paper negative
Dimensions
7 7/8 × 6 3/16" (20.1 × 15.7 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Warner Communications, Inc.
Accession
1130.1979
Palette
Exhibitions
