Girault de Prangey

A pioneer of early French photography, Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey produced around 1,000 known plates, many of them on his extensive voyage of 1842–44, when he travelled from Italy to Egypt via Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jerusalem and Palestine; he was the first to photograph many of these countries. Some 120 of his photographs – including works from his travels, as well as the rarely seen early studies that preceded them – go on show at the Musée d’Orsay as it reopens to the public after the relaxation of lockdown in Paris on 19 May (the show continues until 11 July). Find out more from the Orsay’s website.

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Study of Plants (1841), Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey. Photo: © BnF

Kerabat mosque in Cairo (1843), Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey.

Near Alexandria: The Desert (1842), Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey. Photo: © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais/image of the MMA