Background
John Beasley Greene was born in 1832, in Le Havre, France. His father was a banker from Boston, United States.
archaeologist egyptologist Photographer
John Beasley Greene was born in 1832, in Le Havre, France. His father was a banker from Boston, United States.
John Beasley Greene studied photography under one of the most powerful specialists in the area of the time Gustave Le Gray.
John Beasley Greene's short career was associated with the discovering of Ancient Egypt. Its start can be counted from the first expedition to Egypt and Nubia in 1853. During the trip, he made about two hundred photographs and negatives of the local monuments and their inscriptions. Ninety-four of them were included in the album 'Le Nil, monuments, paysages, explorations photographiques par J. B. Greene' published by Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard in 1854.
On November 15 of that same year, Greene registered himself with the foundation of the Société française de photographie (French Society of Photography).
The second trip to Egypt that John Beasley Greene made from 1854 to 1855 wasn't so rich on photos, probably because he served primarily as an excavating archaeologist at Medinet Habu Ramses III temple, not far from Luxor. However, the shots he brought back and then published became an important comprehensive source for academics.
At the end of 1855, Greene traveled to North Africa. He visited the French territory of Algeria before his comeback to Paris in the spring of 1856.
The fourth Greene's expedition to Egypt in fall 1856 ended by his death. The negatives he left after him were transmitted to his friend, an Egyptologist and photographer Théodule Devéria.
Luxor, Portico, Temple of Amon
Constantine, Algeria
Constantine, Algeria
Elcantara Bridge, Constantine, Algeria
Constantine, Algeria
El-Ourit Waterfall near Constantine, Algeria
Tomb of the Christian Woman, Algeria
Bank of the Rhumel, near Constantine, Algeria
Rhumel River, near Constantine, Algeria
Street in Cairo, 1854-1855
Street in Cairo, 1854-1855
Etude de Dattiers (Study of date palms)
Banks of the Nile at Thebes, Village de Ghezireh in front of the Theban Hills, Egypt
Temple de I'lle de Philae
Temple de Abu Simbel, Nubie
Abu Simbel. Eastern Colossus
Temple 2, Dendour, Nubia
Obelisk at Luxor
Abu Simbel, Tui (mother of Ramses II)
Château de France, Luxor
John Beasley Greene was a founding member of the French Society of Photography, and the two societies dedicated to the Eastern studies.
John Beasley Greene’s early death was probably caused by tuberculosis.