Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey
1843
Capital, Greco-Roman Theater, Miletus

Daguerreotype
4 3/4 × 7 3/8 × 5/16 ins (12 × 18.8 × 0.8 cm)
 
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. John A. Moran Gift, in memory of Louise Chisholm Moran, 2018, Accession Number: 2018.2
 
In 1842, the artist, archaeologist, and pioneer photographer Girault de Prangey embarked on a three-year photographic excursion around the eastern Mediterranean to study the origins of Islamic architecture. He returned to France in 1845 with at least 1,000 daguerreotypes, including this sculptural detail from a pillar near the theater of the ancient Greek city of Miletus in Turkey. The Neried, or se nymph, is indicative of the importance and proximity of the Mediterranean Sea.
 
LL/85458