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| Unknown photographer Julia Margaret Cameron 1868 albumen print National Portrait Gallery (U.K.) |
Above, the figure of Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879) herself, in front of the camera for once. Many of the Cameron prints at the National Portrait Gallery in London are from an album of small-scale images mounted on commercially produced card-stock with gold borders. The album was part of a gift to the Gallery in 1959 by Virginia Woolf's first cousin, Cordelia Curle (1879-1970). This generous and public-spirited woman was the daughter of Herbert William Fisher (1826-1903) who was tutor to the Prince of Wales under Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Fisher himself appears in some of Cameron's photographs. Cordelia Curle's mother was Mary Louisa Jackson Fisher (1841-1916), another of Julia Margaret Cameron's many nieces. The web of Victorian literary, academic and civil service gentry, often intermarried, included the Fisher clan, the Camerons, the Ritchies, the Tennysons, the Jacksons, the Darwins, and the Prinseps, among many others. Young May Prinsep (1853-1931) – seen below in several aspects – was one of Mrs. Cameron's favorite models. At the time these pictures were taken May Prinsep was married to Andrew Hichens, a rich arts patron who appears with May in the Arhurian scene of Gareth & Lynette below (with pink border) from Tennyson's Idylls of the King. May Prinsep's second husband was Hallam Tennyson, eldest son of the Laureate.
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| Julia Margaret Cameron Christabel (May Prinsep) 1865 albumen print on gold-edged cabinet card National Portrait Gallery (U.K.) |
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| Julia Margaret Cameron Gareth & Lynette (Andrew Hichens & May Prinsep) 1874 albumen print National Portrait Gallery (U.K.) |
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| Julia Margaret Cameron Elaine the Lily Maid of Astolate (May Prinsep) 1874 albumen print National Portrait Gallery (U.K.) |
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| Julia Margaret Cameron Portrait of a Sybil (May Prinsep) 1870 albumen print National Portrait Gallery (U.K.) |
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| Julia Margaret Cameron May Prinsep 1870 albumen print on gold-edged cabinet card National Portrait Gallery (U.K.) |
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| Julia Margaret Cameron La Madonna Aspettante (Mary Hillier) 1865 albumen print on gold-edged cabinet card National Portrait Gallery (U.K.) |
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| Julia Margaret Cameron Kiss of Peace (Mary Hillier) 1869 albumen print on gold-edged cabinet card National Portrait Gallery (U.K.) |
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| Julia Margaret Cameron Mary Hillier with unknown girl 1869-70 albumen print on gold-edged cabinet card National Portrait Gallery (U.K.) |
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| Julia Margaret Cameron The Day Dream (Mary Hillier) 1869 albumen print on gold-edged cabinet card National Portrait Gallery (U.K.) |
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| Julia Margaret Cameron The Angel at the Tomb (Mary Hillier) 1870 albumen print National Portrait Gallery (U.K.) |