Maudslay Photographs

English archaeologist and photographer Alfred Percival Maudslay (1850–1931) first visited Central America in 1872. The "unexpected magnificence of the monuments" in the tropical forests captivated Maudslay, who then dedicated his life to documenting ruins found in Mexico and Central America. Maudslay played a crucial role in exploring and documenting ancient Mayan ruins found in several sites including Palenque, Copan, and Chichen Itza. Between 1881 and 1894, he conducted arduous explorations in remote areas, carrying his photographic equipment, casting plaster, and other supplies to make careful photographic records and plaster casts of architectural ruins. When he returned to England he published his findings in a multi-volume set entitled Biologia Centrali-Americana and made exhibition prints from his glass plate negatives that were shown at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. It was in Chicago that Brooklyn Museum founding curators Stewart Culin and William Henry Goodyear saw the prints and arranged to purchase them, along with the Biologia for the Brooklyn Museum.

Click URL to view — http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/research/digital-collections/maudslay.php

Alfred Percival Maudslay (1850-1931), Archaeology, Art history, Biologia Centrali-Americana, Brooklyn Museum, Central America, Expeditions, Maya art, Mexico, Photographs

eng

Museum

Central America (general region)

Mexico (nation)

1881 1894

Maudslay Photographs