Fountain of Jericho (And Probable Site of the City)

Artist Frank Mason Good (British, 1839 - 1928)

Publisher The Francis Frith Collection

CultureEnglish

Date1860s

MediumAlbumen print from a glass negative with original lithographed mount

DimensionsOverall, Image: 6 1/4 × 8 1/4 in. (15.9 × 21 cm)
Overall: 11 7/8 × 15 in. (30.2 × 38.1 cm)
Overall, Mat: 16 1/16 × 20 in. (40.8 × 50.8 cm)

Credit LineGift of Dr. and Mrs. Charles T. Isaacs

Object number2001.31.18

On View

Not on view

DescriptionThis is an albumen print from a wet collodion negative on its original lithographed mount. This is a landscape depicting the end of a stream with vegetation surrounding. Hills and a mountain outline are in the background.

Label TextFrank Mason Good British, 1839–1928 Fountain of Jericho (And Probable Site of the City), 1860s Albumen print (photograph) from a glass negative with original lithographed mount The Old Testament describes the prophet Elisha as a wonderworker who saved the town of Jericho. When a group of men complained that the town’s water was undrinkable and ruining their crops, he filled a jar with salt and threw it into a spring, purifying the water and promising, “Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.” When photographer Frank Mason Good traveled to the Holy Land in the mid-1800s, he expected to find the biblical “land of milk and honey,” but instead discovered a desolated outpost of the Ottoman Empire. By focusing on this oasis, he made the scriptures visible for the faithful and offered them spiritual solace. Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Charles T. Isaacs 2001.31.18 Exhibition History"New Light on Land: Photographs from the Chrysler Collection," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, January 28 - May 15, 2016.