Égypte Moyenne. Pyramide de Chéphren

Maxime Du Camp|Imprimerie photographique de Blanquart-Évrard, à Lille

December 10, 1849 · Salted paper print (Blanquart-Évrard process) from paper negative · Photographs

A majestic pyramid rises from a sea of windswept sand. Du Camp’s view of Khafre, one of his earliest photographs from Egypt, is also one of the most striking. Like most of his published photographs, this one was printed after the sky had been painted out in the negative, leaving blank space above the horizon and a better delineated monument. Du Camp’s traveling companion Gustave Flaubert was dumbstruck by the view from atop the pyramids, writing to his brother, "You wrap yourself in your coat, since the cold air bites, and you shut your mouth; that’s all."

Artist

Maxime Du Camp|Imprimerie photographique de Blanquart-Évrard, à Lille

Date

December 10, 1849

Medium

Salted paper print (Blanquart-Évrard process) from paper negative

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Robert O. Dougan Collection, Gift of Warner Communications Inc., 1981