Temple of Ramesses II, Abu Simbel (c. 1860s): Art, History and Details

Temple of Ramesses II, Abu Simbel (c. 1860s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Antonio Beato (British, c. 1825–1903).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Throughout the 1800s and into the 1900s, prints, paintings, and photographs, like Louis Haghe’s Egypt and Nubia series, brought back by artists who voyaged to Egypt, inspired American and European artists, architects, and designers to emulate ancient Egyptian motifs and styles. Egyptomania blossomed through the 1800s and can be seen in architecture around cities like Washington, DC, and in the interiors of aristocratic homes, as well as in funerary monuments, such as in Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio. Looking back at these creations provides an interesting historical groundwork for debating who has the right to interpret Egyptian motifs and styles.

Object facts

• Title: Temple of Ramesses II, Abu Simbel
• Date: c. 1860s
• Creator attribution: Antonio Beato (British, c. 1825–1903)
• Culture: England, 19th century
• Type: Photograph
• Technique: albumen print from wet collodion negative
• Dimensions: Image: 26.1 x 38.4 cm (10 1/4 x 15 1/8 in.); Matted: 45.7 x 55.9 cm (18 x 22 in.)
• Collection: Photography
• Department: Photography
• Accession number: 1992.307

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1992." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 80, no. 2 (1993): 38-79.
• Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.