Kalaat-el-Markab (Maragat)
Vue partiele des murs (ouest)

Artist Louis de Clercq (1836-1901)

CultureFrench

Date1859-1860

MediumNegative

Dimensions11 1/2 × 8 7/8 in. (29.2 × 22.5 cm)
Overall, Frame (lightbox): 21 × 18 1/2 × 3 in. (53.3 × 47 × 7.6 cm)

InscribedVerso numbered in black ink: 13; Verso numbered in pencil: 3

Credit LineMuseum purchase, in memory of Alice R. and Sol B. Frank

Object number2004.10.2

On View

Not on view

DescriptionThis is an oiled paper negative with black brush-retouchings and sky masked in black gouache. It is the negative for the print of the Kalaat-el-Markab castle, partial view of the walls (west) in the _Voyage En Orient: recueil photographique exécuté par Louis de Clercq, 1858-1859_ book, volume II, plate 12.

Label TextLouis de Clercq French (1836-1901) Kalaat-el-Markab (Maragat), Vue partiele des murs (ouest), 1859-1860 [Name of the castle, Partial View of the West Wall] Albumenized salted paper print and waxed paper negative Museum purchase, in memory of Alice R. and Sol B. Frank 2004.10.1 and 2 This photograph and its accompanying paper negative are among the first ever made of the castles constructed during the Crusades in Syria. By the nineteenth century, the Crusaders and their castles had entered into the realm of legend. Very few travelers had actually witnessed these massive structures and none had seen the accurate representations that only the recently invented medium of photography could provide. By the 1860s, the ancient wonders of Egypt, the Holy Land, Greece, and Rome had been fairly well documented through photographs. Thus, De Clercq's photographs of the Crusaders' castles are the earliest records of these historical and indeed mythical structures. The print comes from de Clercq's 1861 Voyage en Orient, Volume II, Châteaux des temps des croisades en Syrie, 1859-60 (Castles in Syria at the time of the Crusades). The publication consists of 222 albumen prints divided into six volumes. This print comes from the entire six-volume work and was exhibited in 1861 at the fourth exhibition of the Société Française de Photographie in Paris. Edited By: DS Edited Date: 2006 Approved By: DS Approval Date: 01/31/2007ProvenanceTexbraun Gallery, Paris, France; Harry Lunn, 1987-1992; Daniel Blau, Munich, Germany, 2003; Robert Klein, Boston, Ma., 2004; Chrysler Museum of Art Purchase, in memory of Alice R. and Sol B. Frank, 2004. Exhibition History"Alter Ego: Louis de Clercq - Negatives 1859," Paris Photo, France, November 13 - November 16, 2003. [http://www.danielblau.de/index_e.html #70 under "Gallery Program"] Published ReferencesLouis de Clercq, text by Karl Schlamminger, _Alter Ego: Louis De Clercq - Negatives 1859_, exh. cat., Galerie Daniel Blau, 2003.