Auguste Salzmann's 19th-Century Photographs of Jerusalem's Holy Sites on View September 12

Opening September 12 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Faith and Photography: Auguste Salzmann in the Holy Land will be the first-ever exhibition devoted exclusively to the career of the French academic painter, archaeologist, and photographer. In 1853, Auguste Salzmann (1824-1872) embarked on the arduous journey from Paris to Jerusalem. Hoping to objectively verify religious faith through the documentation of the city's holy sites, he turned to photography, creating one of the most enigmatic bodies of work of the 19th century.

Despite a high-caliber photographic oeuvre of great variation and creativity, Salzmann remains relatively unknown. Some three dozen rare salted paper prints from paper negatives have been selected from his influential 1856 album, Jerusalem: A Study and Photographic Reproduction of the Monuments of the Holy City. All the works are in the Gilman Collection of The Met's Department of Photographs.

Faith and Photography: Auguste Salzmann in the Holy Land is organized by Anjuli J. Lebowitz, Jane and Morgan Whitney Fellow, with Jeff L. Rosenheim, Curator in Charge of the Department of Photographs at The Met.

The exhibition will be featured on The Met website, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via the hashtags #FaithAndPhotography #MetOnPaper100.

It complements the major exhibition at The Met Jerusalem 1000-1400: Every People Under Heaven, on view September 26, 2016, through January 8, 2017.