Façade du Temple d'Athor à Dendérah (Tentyris) 1849 - 1850

This photograph of the facade of the Temple of Hathor in Dendera was taken by Maxime Du Camp, likely in the early 1850s. It's a salted paper print, an early photographic process, giving the image a warm, sepia tone and a slightly soft focus. Du Camp was commissioned to document Egypt, and this image offers a glimpse into both the ancient world and the emerging technology of photography. Salted paper prints like this were made by coating paper with a salt solution, then with silver nitrate, making it light-sensitive. The negative was then placed on the paper and exposed to sunlight, with the image gradually appearing. The process is labor-intensive. It involved a deep understanding of chemistry and optics, as well as the physical labor of preparing the materials, taking the photograph, and developing the print. In this sense, the photograph reflects both the ancient labor that built the temple, and the 19th-century labor of capturing its image. It's a beautiful intersection of art, science, and human effort.