HOME  >  Browse  >  Photographs  >  Photographic Masterworks  >  The Temple Mount, Jerusalem

a landmark panoramic view of the Temple Mount

Robertson, James and Felice & Antonio Beato. The Temple Mount, Jerusalem

Jerusalem, 1857

Two joined albumen prints (9 ½ x 22 in.), unmounted. Light wear and foxing. Very good condition, with very good tones.

This landmark two-part view of the Temple Mount is one of the very earliest panoramic photographs of Jerusalem.

Robertson and the Beatos made the first series of photographs of Jerusalem in 1857 using the newly developed wet-plate method, which revolutionized photography. This is their stunning panoramic view of the Temple Mount. The Getty Museum’s individual prints of this panorama are titled “Mount Moriah and the Mosk of Omar [actually the Dome of the Rock]” (left panel) and “Mosk el-Aska Solomon Gate” (right panel).

Robertson and the Beatos visited Palestine following their historic photographic work during the Crimean War. The names of the three men appear together in the registry of the British consulate of Jerusalem for March 3, 1857, marking the beginning of their photographic expedition. Antonio Beato went on to become the preeminent photographer of the upper Nile, while Felice Beato accompanied the allied forces in China in 1860 during the Second Opium War, producing some of the earliest photographs of Beijing. Robertson, who had made his name in Constantinople and in the Crimean War, returned to Constantinople after the partnership was dissolved.

A monument of Holy Land photography.

$32,000