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PALESTINE THE EARLIEST SURVIVING PHOTOGRAPHS OF JERUSALEM The history of the area known in the 19th century as Palestine or the Holy Land is long and complex and unfolds around the city of Jerusalem. David made it the capital of the Jewish Kingdom of Israel in circa 1000 BC. His successor, Solomon expanded the city, built a city wall and improved and enlarged the temple, but in the 6th century BC the Temple of Solomon was destroyed and the Jews exiled from the city by Babylonian conquerors. A new or Second Temple was instigated under Persian rule a generation later, when Jews were allowed to return to the city. Over the following centuries the city was ruled in turn by Greeks, Romans, Egyptians and Syrians. Under King Herod in the 1st century BC, the retaining wall for the Temple Mount was constructed, parts of which survive today as the city's Western Wall. The city retained its religious importance while under Roman rule, becoming a destination for Christian pilgrims, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built in the 4th century during the reign of Constantine the Great. In the 7th century Persian invaders destroyed the city, and in 637 the city was conquered by the Muslim Caliph Umar I. The Dome of the Rock, standing on the site of the First and Second Temples, was built in 688-691 on the Temple Mount, as was the Al Aqsa Mosque. The Rock, already sacred to Jews, now became sacred to Muslims. In the 11th century Muslims destroyed Christian shrines and closed routes previously used by pilgrims and for trade, and this fuelled the start of the Crusades. For the next few hundred years the city remained mostly under Muslim rule. In 1517, The Ottoman sultan Selim I conquered the city and it was to remain under Ottoman rule until the 20th century, when it came under British rule in 1917. It was under Turkish rule in the 16th century that the new city walls were built, which still encircle the Old City today. After a nine-year period of Egyptian rule (1831-40) Palestine was opening up gradually to western visitors, with the establishment of consulates in Jerusalem. The population of the city grew throughout the 19th century, with an increase in Jewish immigration, mainly from Eastern Europe. As always, the city remained a place of pilgrimage, held equally sacred by the followers of three religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It was a prime location in the Middle East for any western traveller. Girault de Prangey arrived in Jerusalem on May 21, 1844. He was preceded, as elsewhere in the region, by Goupil Fesquet, and may have overlapped with the visit, in 1844, of George Skene Keith. Keith was a Scottish physician who was making daguerreotypes to use as the basis for engravings illustrating his book relating the study of the Bible to the landscape of the Holy Land, Evidence of the Truth of the Christian Religion. No daguerreotypes by either of these other photographers are known to exist today. For reproductions of two engravings after daguerreotypes by George Skene Keith, see Nir,Y., The Bible and the Image, pp. 36-39

JOSEPH-PHILIBERT GIRAULT DE PRANGEY

222. Jérusalem 1844. G.[ran]de Mosquée, prise du palais du Pacha.

Details

JOSEPH-PHILIBERT GIRAULT DE PRANGEY
222. Jérusalem 1844. G.[ran]de Mosquée, prise du palais du Pacha.
Daguerreotype. Titled, dated and numbered in ink on label on verso.
7 3/8 x 9½in. (18.6 x 24cm.)

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Lot Essay

The Mosque of Omar, or Dome of the Rock, the oldest extant Islamic monument in the world, was built in the late 7th century by Caliph Abd al-Malik. It is positioned at the highest point of the Temple Mount or Haram al-Sharif, dominating the Old City of Jerusalem, and was originally intended as a shrine for pilgrims. The rock on which it stands is sacred to both Jews and Muslims. The whole area is of the deepest historical, religious and political significance.

In his photograph Girault de Prangey fills the large whole-plate daguerreotype with the building and its surrounding walls and arcades. The Dome of the Chain is seen on the right and the dome and roof of the Al-Aqsa Mosque are visible in the background. He clearly shows the octagonal form of the building with its richly-patterned mosaic-covered exterior walls and dome of gilded wood. One of the earliest Islamic monuments and atypical in its design in comparison with later examples, the Mosque is of great architectural interest as well as being of such historical and religious significance. The scale of the daguerreotype and the dominant position of the Mosque in the centre indicate the importance of the subject to Girault de Prangey. It is interesting to compare his view with that made by Maxime Du Camp five years later. Allowing for the lateral reversal of the image on the daguerreotype plate, they are sufficiently similar to presume they were made from the same location, although Girault de Prangey has used a slightly lower point of view and possibly a longer lens to add greater emphasis to the height of the building.

There are three other daguerreotypes of the Dome of the Rock in various formats in the photographer's archive, including one other whole-plate study. The daguerreotype offered here is the only example to show the Mosque from such a close vantage point.

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