General View of Monuments Carved into Bedrock with Photographer's Dahabieh. Abu Simbel

1851–1852

Félix Teynard

(French, 1817–1892)

Culture

France, 19th century

Medium

salted paper print from a paper negative

Measurements

Image: 24.8 x 30.9 cm (9 3/4 x 12 3/16 in.); Paper: 26.7 x 35.5 cm (10 1/2 x 14 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 61 cm (20 x 24 in.)

Credit Line

Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund 2010.268

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Location

Not on view

Description

Teynard, a civil engineer, may have learned photography for his 1851–52 tour of Egypt, which he undertook “to study certain questions of personal interest.” In 1858 he published his photographic record of ancient sites, the most comprehensive to date, as a book of salted paper prints. Teynard traveled by dahabieh, a small passenger boat visible in this image. He asked his readers to grant some indulgence for photographers carrying out such painstaking work in an arduous locale like Egypt. “A nomad, his working method is always provisional, and the delicate preparations for his photography must be carried out on a small sailing boat rocking in the water, or under a tent standing in the midst of the desert.”