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Excavations near the Sphinx

John Beasley Greene's 1853 salted paper print of a deep stone-lined excavation pit at Giza with workers standing on its walls, the Sphinx's head with a small flag on top and pyramids behind
Artwork FileGiza, Egypt

Excavations near the Sphinx

SeenNov 2019

John Beasley Greene · 1853 · Giza

Photo: John Beasley Greene / The Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0 1.0), 1853. Resized from the existing SAU image.

In 1853 John Beasley Greene photographed Auguste Mariette’s excavation beside the Great Sphinx at Giza, with the excavation team posed around the site. The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds a salted paper print, and the New York dealer Hans P. Kraus Jr. shows the waxed paper negative among its selected works. Source Source Source Checked

Seen Nov 2019 — evidence dated 2019-11-19. This file is about the photograph. Hyperallergic’s review of SFMOMA’s exhibition Signs and Wonders (31 August 2019 – 5 January 2020) reproduced the Met print on 19 November 2019; the Met’s online catalogue lists the print as 2005.100.276. Source Source Source Checked

💡 4 things to know

  1. One of the few with peopleHans P. Kraus Jr. writes that this is one of the few Greene photographs to include any figures, with the archaeologist and excavation team carefully posed. Source Reported
  2. A first for EgyptHyperallergic’s reviewer writes that Greene was, as far as we know, the first to photograph an excavation in progress in Egypt: Mariette’s dig by the Sphinx in 1853–54. Source Reported
  3. A flag on the headKraus writes that Mariette had put a French flag on the head of the almost buried Sphinx by the time Greene arrived; a small flag shows on the head in this print. Source Source Reported
  4. A short lifeGreene was born in 1832 and died in Cairo in November 1856, aged 24. Source Reported

📍 Where it is

Photographed at Auguste Mariette’s excavation to the left of the Great Sphinx, Giza Plateau, Giza, Egypt. Print: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2005.100.276). Source Source Checked

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🗓️ Sightings

  1. 1853

    Greene photographs Mariette’s excavation to the left of the Sphinx

  2. 2005

    The Met acquires its print with the Gilman Collection

  3. 201931 Aug

    SFMOMA opens Signs and Wonders, listing the Met print

  4. 201919 Nov

    Hyperallergic’s review reproduces the Met print

Green stamps mark dated photographs; amber stamps mark records or reports; red stamps mark loss. Publication dates are not camera dates.

🗞️ In the sources

Hans P. Kraus Jr. Fine PhotographsDealer listing (undated)

Mariette’s excavations to the left of the Sphinx, Giza, 1853

“With archaeologist and excavation team carefully posed around the site, this is one of the few Greene photographs to include any figures.”

Read the source →

Hyperallergic19 November 2019

Photography’s Potential as Art and Science in Documenting Ancient Egypt

“But he was, as far as we know, the first to photograph an excavation in progress in Egypt — Auguste Mariette’s excavations by the Sphinx at Giza, in 1853-54.”

Read the source →

✅ The facts

Photographer
John Beasley Greene Source Source Source Checked
Title (Met)
[Excavations near the Sphinx] — a catalogue title in brackets Source Checked
Other titles
“Mariette’s excavations to the left of the Sphinx, Giza” (Kraus); “Pyramids of Giza. [Mr. Mariette’s site]. Excavation to the left of the Sphinx” (SFMOMA) Source Source Checked
Met print
Salted paper print from paper negative, 22.3 × 30.2 cm Source Checked
Met accession
2005.100.276, Gilman Collection, Purchase, Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee Gift, 2005 Source Source Checked
Negative
Waxed paper negative, 24.4 × 31.3 cm, shown by Hans P. Kraus Jr. Source Reported
Excavation shown
Auguste Mariette’s, beside the Sphinx Source Source Checked
Exhibited
Signs and Wonders, SFMOMA, 31 August 2019 – 5 January 2020 Source Source Checked
Photographer’s dates
1832 – November 1856 Source Reported

🔗 Related

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Last checked: 29 October 2026. How we verify art