Originally listed at $450...

Francis Frith (English, 1822 to 1898). Two collodion prints: "Sculptured Gateway, Karnac" and "The Temple Palace, Medinet Haboo," 1857. Both signed in lower left with title, "Frith Photo," and year printed below image. A fabulous pair of photographs by Francis Frith featuring dynamic views of archeological sites in Egypt from his photo album titled "Egypt and Palestine, Photographed and Described by Francis Frith. In Two Volumes" (London: James S. Virtue, 1858-1859). The first presents the sculptured gateway of Karnac; a monumental, rectangular archway adorned in elaborate Egyptian friezes and towering over desert palms and additional ancient ruins. Size of larger photo ("Sculptured Gateway"): 9" W x 6.25" H (22.9 cm x 15.9 cm) Size of full page ("Sculptured Gateway"): 12.25" W x 15" H (31.1 cm x 38.1 cm) Size of matte ("Sculptured Gateway"): 20.2" W x 16.1" H (51.3 cm x 40.9 cm) Size of frame ("Temple Palace"): 20.9" W x 16.8" H (53.1 cm x 42.7 cm)

The second photograph features a man in Arabian dress with a white horse standing in front of the ruins of a stone temple palace of Medinet Haboo.

According to Dr. Lisa Hostetler, Curator in Charge of the Department of Photography at the George Eastman Museum of the University of Rochester, "Born in Chesterfield, England, Francis Frith apprenticed to a cutlery house and was a partner in a successful wholesale grocery business before he became interested in photography in the early 1850s. He co-founded the Liverpool Photographic Society in 1853, and three years later embarked on his first photographic excursion to Egypt, where he made pictures of ancient monuments. Frith overcame the adverse climatic conditions, producing his striking photographs in a portable wicker darkroom with wet-plate collodion on glass negatives and the albumen printing process. His striking images from this journey proved so popular that he was able to return to the Middle East twice during the next three years. Frith's journeys resulted in a total of nine publications, including Egypt and Palestine Photographed and Described by Francis Frith, a subscription series issued between 1858 and 1860, and Cairo, Sinai, Jerusalem, and the Pyramids of Egypt (1860). By 1859, Frith had earned enough to establish F. Frith & Co., which specialized in postcards of landscape and architectural views in Britain and the Middle East. After 1861, as he became more involved in the management of the company, Frith hired other photographers to provide views of Great Britain, Continental Europe, and the United States. F. Frith &Co. remained in business until 1968, long after his death. Francis Frith was a successful entrepreneur and photographer whose topographical views responded to the high demand in the mid-nineteenth-century in England for pictorial evidence of Middle Eastern subjects. Although his use of three negative formats for each view--8 x 10, 16 x 20, and stereoscopic pairs--points to the commercial nature of his enterprise, those negatives also reveal his experimentation with exposure times and vantage points in order to discern the most pleasing composition for each site. Underscoring his comprehension of the artistic possibilities of photography were the many articles he wrote about the subject, in which he argued for the ability of photographs to communicate divine truth and aesthetic awareness to the general population." (Handy et al. Reflections in a Glass Eye: Works from the International Center of Photography Collection, New York: Bulfinch Press in association with the International Center of Photography, 1999, p. 216.)

Provenance: ex-Royal Athena Galleries, New York City, New York, USA

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#174493

Both signed in lower left with title, "Frith Photo" and year printed below image, mounted on archival non-buffered 100% rag board, and accompanied by description and certificate of authentication from Jerome M. Eisenberg, Ph.D. of Royal Athena Galleries. "Temple Palace": Set in a wood frame with suspension wire on verso for display. Nicks to frame and tearing to gallery paper on verso; neither affecting image. Photograph has not been examined outside of frame but appears to be in overall excellent condition. "Sculptured Gate": Accompanied by page of text by Frith from book, and also is in overall excellent condition.