Ernest Benecke

salt print, numbered '223' in the negative, mounted, titled in pencil and with 'Haute Egypte' in letterpress on the mount, framed, 1852

Collection of Werner Bokelberg, Hamburg

Hans P. Kraus, Jr., Fine Photographs, New York, 1994

Grading this salt print on a scale of 1 to 10 – a 10 being a salt print with deep brown tones and highlights that retain all of their original detail – this print rates a 10. While the tones of the image appear, at first glance, to be light overall, close scrutiny reveals that the print has very deep dark tones (in the shadow of the rocks and stone structure, for instance). Upon the closest examination, a few very small, matte deposits of indeterminate nature are visible in the central portion of the image. The print is on a lightly-textured, white paper mount. There is moderate foxing on the front and reverse of the mount, which does not significantly affect the image.
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In 1852, Ernest Benecke made his grand tour of the Near East, traveling throughout Egypt, Nubia, the Holy Land, and the Mediterranean.  An accomplished amateur photographer from a prosperous family, Benecke was amongst the first to use the calotype process to photograph the life, architecture, and monuments of Egypt.  The present photograph shows the façade of the Temple of Amunoph III, constructed between 1388 and 1349 B. C. E. by the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt, better known as Amenhotep III. 

Although little is known of Benecke’s life and work beyond his Near East expedition, Blanquart-Évrard included one of Benecke’s photographs in his 36-plate premiere publication, Album photographique de l’artiste et de l’amateur (1852), as well as in two subsequent volumes.  The print offered here comes originally from the unexpected 1992 sale of over 100 previously unknown Benecke photographs at a German auction house.  Reported to have been in the collection of a noble Bavarian family, this trove was subsequently acquired by the photographer and collector Werner Bokelberg, from whose collection this print came.  Additional extant prints are scarce and have rarely appeared at auction.