Throughout the nineteenth century, Egypt was a popular destination for tourists, and to meet the demand for photographic souvenirs of the monuments these travelers had visited, photographers followed them, establishing studios near the most celebrated sites. Noted for his Egyptian architectural photography, Antonio Beato (after 1832–1906) spent most of his professional career selling high quality prints to the visitors who flocked to Cairo and Luxor. His documentation of famous ancient monuments remains an invaluable archaeological record, showing how these impressive structures looked during the nineteenth century. Although less well known than his older brother Felice Beato (1832–1909), also a photographer, Antonio too had a notable career in the Middle East. Both brothers were unusually well-traveled.
Born and raised on the Mediterranean Greek island of Corfu, his background was Italian and British. Corfu had been ruled by the Venetians from the fifteenth until the late eighteenth century, then for short periods by the French and the Ottomans, before being taken over by the British in 1815. It was a culturally diverse atmosphere. In 1844 Antonio and his family moved to Constantinople, the capitol of the Ottoman Empire. It was there that he and Felice commenced their photographic careers, starting with an apprenticeship in the studio of their future brother-in-law, James Robertson (1813–1888). During this time, the brothers traveled throughout the Middle East, stopping in the Holy Land, Greece, and Egypt. The pair settled in Egypt, but in 1858, Antonio and Felice parted ways; Felice traveled to India, China, and Japan, while Antonio established himself in the Luxor studio that he operated for the next four decades. Technically proficient and highly skilled as a printer, he produced handsome images that paid tribute to the monuments he and his customers admired. In his Egyptian studies, Antonio created an impressive record of major monuments, capturing the mesmerizing beauty of the country’s many ruins set in their desert environment. He pursued a highly successful career selling prints to the many tourists who desired visual souvenirs to bring home as mementos of their travels.
Sorting out the early careers and work of the two brothers has long been challenging to scholars. Nor is it easy to separate their careers from that of James Robertson. Even their dates of birth and death have considerable variation in the scholarship that has been published on them. Felice had met Robertson about 1851, the year he accompanied him to Constantinople (Robertson established his studio in the fashionable Pera neighborhood). The pair began working together about 1853, forming an official partnership in 1854, about the time Robertson married Beato’s sister. The partnership ended in 1860, but Robertson continued to use the firm’s name until 1867. By 1856 they had been to Malta, and in 1857 to Jerusalem, joined by Antonio. After Roger Fenton had returned to England, Felice and Robertson arrived in the Crimea to take war pictures. Felice was in India in February 1858, where he was joined by Antonio in July. Antonio left in December 1859, and headed for Egypt, where he established his studio in Luxor in 1862.
The chronicle of the two brothers becomes easier to untangle after 1860, the year Felice went to China. He moved to Japan in 1863, temporarily retiring from the photography business in 1877. But in 1884, he left Japan, traveling through Egypt, enroute to Sudan, where he resumed photography working for the British military until 1885. The next year he made a short visit to England, and he was in Burma by 1889. Ten years later he was largely retired, he died in Florence in 1909.
For many years, it was assumed that Antonio and Felice had collaborated in making their photographs, a view supported by the fact that the prints that they had worked on together were often signed “Antonio Felice Beato.” Prints signed “Robertson and Beato” further added to the confusion as only a single Beato was listed, without any indication as to which one. Between 1856 and 1857, the signature “Robertson, Beato and Co.” began to appear. The inclusion of “Company” suggested that Antonio may have become a junior partner in the business.
Not until 1886 was the problem solved, with the publication of a letter from Antonio in the French newspaper Moniteur de la Photographie. The paper’s editors had confused the two brothers, crediting Antonio with a technical improvement in a negative process that his brother had actually made. In his letter, Antonio denied any responsibility for his brother’s work, thereby establishing the identity of the Beato that appeared in this signature. But with Felice’s departure from Egypt in 1858, one can assume that all Egyptian work from the Beato studio after that date was done by Antonio, who established himself as one of the highest quality purveyors of commercial Egyptian images.
There was great demand from travelers to the Middle East for images of the most notable monuments, with the pyramids being particularly popular. The most important and famous ruin of ancient Egypt is the Pyramid of Cheops at Giza, widely admired as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Constructed between c. 2560 and 2540, BC, it is the grandest and most intact of any in that country. Antonio also photographed the great
colossi on the plains of Thebes and the Temple of Edfu. His photograph of the interior of the Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak, one of the largest in Egypt, is especially impressive. The single figure standing by one of the twelve gigantic columns, seventy feet high, is dwarfed by them. Richly decorated, the columns are covered in relief carvings and inscriptions. His signature, “A. Beato,” appears prominently in the lower right corner. The twenty-two photographs by Antonio Beato in the Solari Foundation Collection all portray Egyptian subjects, and bear witness to the considerable talents of this rather elusive photographer who has provided such beautiful documentation of sites that captured the Victorian imagination.
Andrew Lyngarkos
Antonio Beato, Karnak. Intérieur de la Salle, c.1860s, albumen print, 26 x 20 cm, SOLARI 94.016.006