Temple of Horus, Edfu (167. ? Temple.)

Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey

1844 · Daguerreotype · Photographs

Today, the Temple of Horus is one of the best-preserved ancient Egyptian monuments, but when Girault visited, it was still buried under sand. The complete temple was rediscovered in the 1860s by the French archaeologist Auguste Mariette. Girault was particularly taken with the fallen capital seen here, which he moved and photographed upside down in a separate image (at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris), giving it the appearance of an unfamiliar object.

Artist

Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey

Date

1844

Medium

Daguerreotype

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. John A. Moran Gift, in memory of Louise Chisholm Moran, Joyce F. Menschel Gift, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 2016 Benefit Fund, and Gift of Dr. Mortimer D. Sackler, Theresa Sackler and Family, 2016 (2016.602)