Auguste Salzmann

Auguste Salzmann (Ribeauvillé, Alsace, 1824 - Paris, 1872) was a French painter and archaeologist who was among the first to use photography as a tool for archaeological study. His significance lies in bringing the calotype into scientific fieldwork in the Middle East, at a time when the discipline was only beginning to rely on photographic images.

Before turning to photography, he trained as a painter under his brother Henri-Gustave and exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1847, 1849 and 1850, showing landscapes and religious scenes. He travelled to Algeria and Egypt, where he met the Egyptologist Auguste Mariette. In 1853 he received an official assignment to study the remains of the Knights Hospitaller on Rhodes, but he set out for Palestine instead, drawn by the debate over the age of Jerusalem's walls stirred up by Félicien de Saulcy.

The journey produced more than 200 calotypes, which supported De Saulcy's claims. His principal work, the album Jérusalem (1856), gathered 174 photographs of architecture and excavations. Its circulation was limited by its high price and by waning public interest. Salzmann combined documentary rigour with notable aesthetic quality. After a second trip to the Holy Land in 1863 and his work on Rhodes, he is credited with the discovery of the necropolis of Camiros.