Southern Wall of the Exterior of the Sanctuary, Dendur

Félix Teynard, French, 1817–1892, Southern Wall of the Exterior of the Sanctuary, Dendur, ca. 1851–52, Salt print

The temple of Dendur, which stands very close to the Nile, is an unfinished religious complex consisting of a temple, a gate and a terrace. Here, Félix Teynard chose an unusual rendering of the side of the temple, with the river just visible on the far right of the image. Under any other condition of daylight, this side of this temple would likely have appeared indistinct; through Teynard’s trained and patient eye, however, it becomes a memorable and enduring edifice rising from a field of rubble. Teynard waited for the correct angle of light that would emphasize an almost calligraphic rendering of the hieroglyphic figures.

(This temple has been reconstructed in a special wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.)