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Fallen Statue at the Ramesseum, Thebes
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Overcoming both physical dangers and technical difficulties, Francis Frith traveled to obscure regions of the world to capture exotic images for an eager Victorian audience. Taken on the second of three trips to Egypt, this photograph was created with a mammoth plate (typically an 18-x-22-inch glass negative), which enabled the artist to capture the smallest details of a scene. Here Frith conveyed the monumentality of the ancient Egyptian sculpture by including members of his expedition in the picture. The image was published in an album containing 20 mammoth-plate views, the only published volume of Frith's large photographs and one of the first devoted to large-scale prints.
| Artist / Maker | Francis Frith |
|---|---|
| Date | 1857 |
| Culture / Origin | England, 19th century |
| Medium | albumen print from wet collodion negative |
| Dimensions | Image: 38.3 x 48.2 cm (15 1/16 x 19 in.); Matted: 61 x 76.2 cm (24 x 30 in.) |
| Department | Photography |
| Type | Photograph |
About the Artist
Francis Frith British, 1822-1898 Francis Frith, best known for his views of Egypt and the Middle East, was born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. A Quaker, he attended Ackworth School and Quaker Camp Hill School in Birmingham (about 1828-38), then apprenticed in a Sheffield cutlery house before working in a wholesale grocery business. He began photographing in 1850 and three years later helped to found the Liverpool Photographic Society. In 1856 Frith embarked on an extensive tour of Egypt, traveling up the… Full biography →
Provenance & Source
Image & data: Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0 / Public Domain.
Condition
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