Artist Index: Cameron, Julia Margaret

Portrait of two women. 1866 -70. Albumen print. 30,5 x 25 cm. Mounted to board (some edge wear, backed tear in upper edge, slightly dusty), Sold by Messrs.Colnaghi 14 Pall Mall East London blindstamp below the image on the mount.

This image is only present as a cropped version in the catalogue raisonné of Cameron's work, where the woman on the left is substantially cut off. Although not signed or annotated by Cameron, the mount bears the Colnaghi blindstamp. – A few small spots in the negative, some light discoloration spots in upper left, minimal oxidation mirroring in edges, some fading in right edge and lower right corner, a few light surface scratch marks, otherwise a strong print in very good condition.

Provenance: Robert Lebeck Collection

Lit.: Julian Cox/Colin Ford. Julia Margaret Cameron. The Complete Photographs. London 2003, ill. p. 277, cat. no. 532 (cropped variant).

"The Finding of Moses" (Mary Hillier with unknown child). 1864. Albumen print. 20,3 x 14,5 cm. Mounted to board (losses in corners), annotated Registered Photograph and signed by the photographer in ink below the image as well as annotated The finding of Moses in pencil in lower edge on the mount.

The stylized portraits of Julia Margaret Cameron were prepared with great care and have elements of both the more modern photographic realism of an unretouched close-up portrait, which contrasts strongly with the flowery Victorian era, and a more conventional religious and allegorical composition which points back to the Old Master painters. Today Cameron is rightly regarded as one of the finest portraitists in the history of photography.


Provenienz: Sotheby's Belgravia, April 14th, 1989, lot 218.

Literatur: Julian Cox/Colin Ford. Julia Margaret Cameron. The Complete Photographs. London 2003, ill. p. 145, cat. no. 58.