Frith, Francis, 1822 -1898 (photographer)
Biography
Francis Frith was born on December 7th 1822 in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England, to a Quaker family (Sackett 1994). He was educated at Ackworth School and Quaker Camp Hill School in Birmingham (Browne and Partnow 1983, p.212). After serving an apprenticeship with a Sheffield cutlery firm, he began a wholesale grocery firm, Liverpool, and later a printing firm (Sackett 1994). He took up photography in 1850 and in the mid-1850s retired from his successful business career. In 1853 he was one of the founders of the Liverpool Photographic Society (Turner 1995, p794). He made his first photographic visit to Egypt in 1856-57. He travelled on the Nile and photographed from Cairo to Abu Simbel. On his return he published a series of views which were enthusiastically received. He made a second trip with his assistant Frank Mason Good in late 1857. A third photographic trip was made in 1859 when Frith travelled beyond the Sixth Cataract. On his return from this third trip Frith set up as a photographer and publisher. His company produced a detailed record of English villages and towns, eventually becoming the largest mass production company in Europe. For a list of Frith photographic publications see: Gernsheim, Helmut (1984), 'Incunabula of British photographic literature : a bibliography of British books illustrated with original photographs'. London: Scolar in association with Derbyshire College of Higher Education.
In 1860 Frith married Mary Ann Rosling. They had five sons and three daughters. Frith died on February 25th 1898. His sons Eustace and Cyril continued the business (Sackett 1994). The firm survived until the 1960s.
Sources:
Browne, Turner and Partnow, Elaine (1983), 'Macmillian biographical encyclopedia of photographic artists and innovators'. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
Sackett, Terrance R. (1993) 'Francis Frith'. In: Dictionary of National Biography [CD-ROM]. [S.l.]: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Turner, Jane ed. (1996), 'The dictionary of art'. Volume 11. New York: Grove.
Found in 118 Collections and/or Records:
Egypt and Palestine - Frith - Volume I, 1857
An album of photographs of scenes within Egypt and Palestine.
Egypt and Palestine - Frith - Volume II, 1857
An album of photographs of scenes within Egypt and Palestine.
Entrance of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, 1860
Entrance to the Great Temple, Luxor, 1857
231 x 161 mm. A view showing the massive stone entrance to the temple with carved hieroglyphics over its face and flanked by two monumental statues of Rameses II buried to the shoulders in the sand and the rubble. Beyond the entrance can be seen the tower of a mosque of more recent date.
Frith India Series Vol. I
Gaza (the Old Town), 1860
224 x 158 mm. A view looking over small fields and gardens towards the dilapidated buildings of the Old Town, with the mosque and its tower at the right of the print.
Hall of columns, Karnac, 1857
228 x 160 mm. A view showing the closely built pillars of the great hall at Karnac (the Hypostele Hall of Sethy I and Rameses II) with piles of debris and stone in the foreground. Frith comments of his photograph: 'I am even ashamed of my view, it is so thoroughly inadequate to the subject.'
Hebron with the mosque covering the Cave of Macpelah, 1860
255 x 158 mm. A view looking over the town from a slope at its northern end with the mosque prominent among the small square houses at the left of the print. The area around the mosque is the business centre and bazaar of Hebron.
Interior court of Medinet Haboo [Habu], Thebes, 1857
232 x 162 mm. A view showing one of the inner temple courtyards with sculptured hieroglyphic inscriptions on the supporting pillars. In the courtyard itself lie fallen columns.
Jerusalem, from Mount Scopus, 1860
Jerusalem, from the city wall, 1857
128 x 155 mm. A view looking from the city wall, over an area of waste ground towards the dome and minaret of the Mosque of Omar.
Jerusalem, from the Mount of Olives, 1860
226 x 156 mm. A view looking west from the Mount of Olives, over the Valley of Jehospaphat and towards Jerusalem, with the prominent dome of the Mosque of Omar in the centre. In the foreground are olive trees beside which stand two Arabs.
Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, No 1, 1857
231 x 160 mm. A view, taken from just below the Church of the Ascension, looking down on the city showing the densely packed buildings surrounded by the high city wall. The prominent domed building is the Mosque of Omar. The Garden of Gethsemene lies outside the walls at the right of the print.
Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, No 2, 1857
230 x 154 mm. A panoramic view taken from just below the Church of the Ascension showing the northwest section of the city (Betheza) with the Valley of Jehoshaphat in the foreground and St. Stephen's Gate at the left of the print.
Jerusalem, from the Well of En-Rogel, 1857
229 x 159 mm. A view from the junction of the valley of Jehoshapat and the valley of Hinnom, showing the Well of En-Rogel (enclosed in a vaulted stone building) in the foreground with the City of Jerusalem visible on the hillside beyond. The surrounding landscape is rock-strewn hillside with an (?) olive grove in the middle distance.
Jerusalem, from the well of En-Rogel, 1860
227 x 162 mm. A view from the Well of En-Rogel (omitting the well itself from the picture), with the City of Jerusalem visible on the hillside beyond. The surrounding landscape is rock-strewn hillside with an (?) olive grove in the middle distance.
Koum Ombo, Upper Egypt, 1857
Mount Horeb, Sinai, 1860
227 x 160 mm. A view looking across the rocky plain of Er-Raha towards the triple summits of Mount Horeb.
Mount Serbal, from the Wadee Feyran, 1860
Nablous, the ancient Shechem, 1857
220 x 157 mm. A view looking over the rooftops of Nablous, a town of white houses surrounded by tree-covered hills. According to Frith: 'Sichem ... Is to this day a pleasing proof of the good taste and sound judgement of those venerable patriarchs [Abraham and Jacob] in matters residential and agricultural.'
Nablous, the ancient Shechem, 1860
216 x 165 mm. A view looking over the rooftops of Nablous, a town of white houses surrounded by tree-covered hills.
Nazareth, from the north-west, 1857
224 x 150 mm. A view looking over the small square houses of Nazareth perched on a hillside with hills and enclosed fields beyond the village. Y30214C/28 is also given the same caption but the two photographs are taken from diametrically opposed view points; which is correct has not been determined.
Nazareth, from the north-west, 1860
230 x 158 mm. A view looking over the houses of Nazareth with cactus bushes in the foreground and hills in the background.Y30214A/7 is also given the same caption, but the two photographs are taken from diametrically opposed view points; which is correct has not been determined.
Obelisk and granite Lotus Column, Karnac, 1857
155 x 231 mm. A view showing the obelisk, which is , according to Frith: 'the most beautiful in Egypt', and the broken Lotus Column, which is, again according to Frith: 'an exquisite piece of work', standing among the ruins of Karnac.
Osiride Pillars and great fallen Colossus, the Memnonium, Thebes, 1857
238 x 161 mm. A view showing the row of Osiride pillars with the overturned colossal bust of Rameses II lying face down in the sand. In the foreground stands a group of Europeans, one of whom lies on the shoulders of the Colossus. It was from the Memnonium (more properly the Ramesseum) that Belzoni in 1816 took the other colossal statue, the 'young Memnon', now in the British Museum.
Additional filters:
- Type
- Archival Object 116
- Collection 2
- Subject
- Asia (continent) 64
- Africa (continent) 56
- Israel (nation) 46
- Egypt (nation) 36
- Upper Egypt (region) 35
- Jerusalem (district (national)) 25
- Qina (governate) 21
- Egypt (former nation/state/empire) 20
- Thebes (deserted settlement) 18
- Lebanon (nation) 14
- Aswan (governorate) 11
- Nile River (river) 11
- Syria (nation) 11
- Jerusalem (inhabited place) 10
- Palestine (historic region) 10
- Philae (deserted settlement) 10
- West Bank (occupied territory) 9
- Al-Biqa` (governorate) 8
- Ba`labakk (inhabited place) 8
- Desert (region) 8
- Nubia (general region) 7
- Janub Sina' (governate) 6
- Northern (district (national)) 6
- Damascus (inhabited place) 5
- Dead Sea (salt lake) 5
- Dimashq (governorate) 5
- Dimashq City (municipality) 5
- Sinai (peninsula) 5
- Gaza Strip (occupied territory) 4
- Medinet Habu (ruins) 4
- Sea of Galilee (lake) 4
- Hebron (inhabited place) 3
- Al-Qunaytirah (governate) 2
- Armant (inhabited place) 2
- Baniyas (inhabited place) 2
- Gaza City (inhabited place) 2
- Golan Heights (annex) 2
- Jhansi (inhabited place) 2
- Luxor (inhabited place) 2
- Matruh (governate) 2
- Nazareth (inhabited place) 2
- Pyramids of Giza (ruins) 2
- Shechem (deserted settlement) 2
- Upper East (region) 2
- Abai (state) 1
- Aswan (inhabited place) 1
- Bethlehem (inhabited place) 1
- HaMerkaz, Mehoz (district (national)) 1
- India (nation) 1
- Jirja (inhabited place) 1
- Kings, Valley of the (burial site) 1
- Musa, Gebel (mountain) 1
- Ramla (inhabited place) 1
- Sawhaj (governorate) 1 + ∧ less