Lot 44: John Beasley Greene (1832-1856) Première cataracte d'Elephantine

John Beasley Greene (1832-1856)
Première cataracte d'Elephantine, 1853-54Salted paper print, signed and notation 'P 21' in the negative, titled in pencil and notation '21' on the mount.9 x 12in (23.3 x 30.5cm)mount 15 1/2 x 22 1/2in (40 x 50.7cm)

Provenance: With Galerie Gérard Lévy, ParisLiterature: Greene and Blanquart Evrard, Monuments et Paysages de la Nubie et de la Haute Egypte, 1854 (with 83 plates), pl. 63A French-born archaeologist based in Paris and a student of photographer Gustave Le Gray, John Beasley Greene became a founding member of the Société Française de la Photographie and was also the first practicing archaeologist to use photography, although he was careful to distinguish between his documentary images and the more artistic representations included here (lots 44-46). In 1853 Greene embarked on an expedition to Egypt and Nubia to record the land, its monuments and their inscriptions. He returned to Upper Egypt the following year to photograph and excavate at Medinet-Habu, the site of the mortuary temple of Ramses III. The photographs from these expeditions were published by Greene and Désiré Blanquart-Evrard, a fellow photographer and inventor. Greene's promising career was cut short-he died in Egypt in 1856, possibly having contracted tuberculosis.