Photograph by Ed Pollard, Hasselblad H4D50 - 2020.

Al-Ashraf Barsbay Mosque, Cairo (Mosquée ‘El-Achraf’, le Caire)

Artist François Joseph Édouard de Campigneulles (French, 1826 - 1879)

CultureFrench

Date1858

MediumAlbumen print from a paper negative

DimensionsOverall, Image: 11 × 12 3/4 in. (27.9 × 32.4 cm)
Overall, Support: 11 × 15 1/4 in. (27.9 × 38.7 cm)
Overall, Frame (estimated): 23 1/2 × 29 1/2 in. (59.7 × 74.9 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase

Object number2020.8.1

Not on view

DescriptionThis is an albumen print that depicts the Mosque of Sultan Al-Ashraf Barsbay in Cairo, Egypt.
Label TextFrançois Joseph Édouard de Campigneulles French, 1826–1879 Al-Ashraf Barsbay Mosque, Cairo, 1858 Albumen print from waxed-paper negative Mamluk and Christian architecture in Cairo attracted fewer photographers than the celebrated ancient temples and pyramids. François Joseph Édouard de Campigneulles, about whom little is known, exhibited many Middle Eastern photographs in Paris in 1859. This view of the Northern Cemetery in Cairo, where the Mamluk Sultan in 1432 built a three-domed tomb complex, foregrounds the beautiful geometric star pattern covering the nearest dome, the earliest known use of this masonry motif. De Campigneulles contrasts the richness of Islamic ornament with the barren, surrounding desert and the blank sky, which was created by painting it out with black ink on the negative. Museum purchase 2020.8.1 ProvenancePurchased by the Chrysler Museum of Art from Serge Kakou, Paris, France, March 2020.Exhibition History"New Frames of Reference: Early French Photographers at Home and Abroad," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va, gallery 228, September 5, 2024 - February 16, 2025.