[Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem]

Felice Beato|James Robertson

1856–57 · Albumen silver print · Photographs

This detailed print showing the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem provides a sense of the structure’s natural and architectural surroundings. Felice Beato depicted the religious site from a pilgrim’s point of view—walls and roads are given visual priority and stand between the viewer and the shrine. Holy sites such as this were the earliest and most common subjects of travel photography. Beato made multiple journeys to the Mediterranean and North Africa, and he is perhaps best known for photographing East Asia in the 1880s.

Artist

Felice Beato|James Robertson

Date

1856–57

Medium

Albumen silver print

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Gift of Joyce F. Menschel, 2013