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The Sphinx
John Beasley Greene (American, 1832-1856)c. 1853
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
The son of a wealthy banker, Greene was an American but born and raised in Paris. At a young age, he became an avid archaeologist focusing on the Middle East. Before embarking on his first trip to Egypt in 1853 at age 19, he learned photography so he could accurately document excavations, discoveries, and inscriptions, but he also used the relatively new medium to produce elegant landscapes such as the view of Thebes nearby. Greene, who was involved in excavations of the Great Sphinx, died in Cairo in 1856, possibly of tuberculosis.
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Details
- Title: The Sphinx
- Creator: John Beasley Greene (American, 1832-1856)
- Date Created: c. 1853
- Physical Dimensions: Image: 23.2 x 29.6 cm (9 1/8 x 11 5/8 in.); Mounted: 39.8 x 56.5 cm (15 11/16 x 22 1/4 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 61 cm (20 x 24 in.)
- Provenance: Estate of Jonathan Stein, a New York photography collector active during the 1980s and 1990s; [Lee Gallery, Winchester, MA]
- Type: Photograph
- Rights: CC0
- External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/2009.277
- Medium: salted paper print from waxed paper negative
- Inscriptions: mprinted in lower left of image: "M: 46" Imprinted in lower right of image: "John Beasley Greene" Written in pencil on recto of mount: "75" Written in pencil on recto of mount: "M-46" Written in pencil on verso of mount: "YE1356" Written in pencil on lower right (then erased): "J" Imprinted on verso: "e" with the remaining inscription removed
- Department: Photography
- Culture: America, 19th century
- Credit Line: Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund
- Collection: PH - American 19th Century
- Accession Number: 2009.277
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