The Mosque of Omar, Jerusalem

Art Historical Context

Step into the ancient heart of Jerusalem with Francis Frith's *The Mosque of Omar, Jerusalem* (1857), an albumen silver print from a glass negative that captures the iconic Dome of the Rock—known then as the Mosque of Omar—amid its urban surroundings. Frith, a pioneering British photographer, ventured into the Middle East during the mid-19th century, sacred sites under Ottoman rule with remarkable clarity. This image, now in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Photographs collection (David Hunter McAlpin Fund, 1966), offers visitors a window into a holy city layered with millennia of history. Frith's work marked a turning point in travel photography, bringing distant architectural marvels to Western audiences at a time when few had seen them firsthand. His expeditions to Palestine emphasized mosques and cities as symbols of cultural and religious significance, blending documentary precision with an artistic eye for composition and light. The albumen silver process, using egg whites to bind light-sensitive silver salts, produced prints with exquisite tonal range and fine detail—ideal for conveying the mosque's golden dome and intricate tiles. This early technique underscores photography's emerging role as both art and historical record, inviting us to ponder Jerusalem's enduring spiritual magnetism.

About the Artist

Francis Frith · 1822–1898

Francis Frith (1822–1898) was born on 7 October 1822 in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, into a prosperous Quaker merchant family as the second child and only son of Francis Frith Sr. and Alice Walker. Educated at Quaker schools including Ackworth and Camp Hill in Birmingham from around 1828 to 1838, he apprenticed in the cutlery trade before establishing himself as a wholesale grocer in Liverpool, suppl...