J.B. GREENE Mountains Near Thebes [Egypt] 1854

J.B. GREENE Mountains Near Thebes [Egypt] 1854
J.B. GREENE [Mountains Near Thebes [Egypt] El __assif, Montagnes de Thebes 8.9x12.1" Blanquart-Evrard process print from a waxed paper negative ASG JBG/1003 15.6x22" whitish mount. In 1850 Louis Desire Blanquart Evard invented the albumen print process.

This is an early important J.B. Greene salt print of ruins in the Middle East.

A French-born to American parents, archaeologist based in Paris and a student of photographer Gustave Le Gray, John Beasly Greene (1832-1856) became a founding member of the Societe Francaise de Photographie and belonged to two societies devoted to Eastern studies. Greene became the first practicing archaeologist to use photography, although he was careful to keep separate files for his documentary images and his more artistic landscapes. In 1853 Greene embarked on an expedition to Egypt and Nubia to photograph the land and document the monuments and their inscriptions. Upon his return, Louis Desire Blanquart-Evrard published an album of ninety-four of these photographs. Greene returned to Egypt the following year to photograph and to excavate at Medinet-Habu in Upper Egypt, the site of the mortuary temple built by Ramses III. In 1855 he published his photographs of the excavation there. The following year, Greene died in Egypt, perhaps of tuberculosis, and his negatives were given to his friend, fellow Egyptologist and photographer Thaodule DevAria. Credit J. Paul Getty Museum
Condition: Very good to Excellent. Tones are 7-8 on a scale of 10, light wear back of mount with many scuffs