4036 - Frith, Francis

Frith, Francis The Sphynx and Great Pyramid, Geezeh; The Sphynx, Geezeh. 1857. 2 albumen prints from wet-collodion glass negatives. 14,8 x 21,8 cm and 15,8 x 23 cm. Signed, dated and numbered in the negatives: “Frith E. No 71 1857” and “Frith 154”. Originally a cutlery apprentice and later a grocer, Frith turned to photography in the early 1850s. Between 1856 and 1860, he undertook three major expeditions through Egypt and the Near East, making wet-collodion glass plate negatives in a portable darkroom and publishing the resulting albumen prints for an international audience. These two early Giza views belong to the foundational group from which Frith developed his celebrated Egyptian publications, combining compositional clarity with archaeological precision and an evocative sense of place. His work established a new model for photographic travel documentation, serving both scholarly interest in ancient monuments and the Victorian market for images of the Near East. – Both prints with minor handling marks and slight discoloration along the edges; no. 71 with a faint fingerprint-like mark in the sky, visible only in raking light, otherwise in excellent condition.