Julia Margaret Cameron (English, born in India, 1815-1879)

"The Kiss of Peace," 1869

Albumen print from a collodion negative

35.1 x 28.1 cm

Cameron is known for her portraits of Britain's most celebrated figures and for her allegorical tableaux drawn from literature, poetry and the Bible. This albumen print, dated 1869, from a collodion negative found its inspiration in a poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson. The costume of Cameron's sitters, Florence Anson (?) and Mary Hillier, Cameron's maid from 1861-1875, though of the Victorian period, makes no explicit reference to a specific historical era. Cameron believed The Kiss of Peace to be "the most beautiful of all my photographs."

Julia Margaret Cameron (English, born in India, 1815-1879)

Henry Wadsworth "Longfellow," negtive 1868, print 1869

Albumen print from a collodion negative

35.8 x 27.5 cm

Cameron is known for her portraits of some of Victorian England's most celebrated figures and for her staged allegorical images drawn from literature, poetry and the Bible.

Julia Margaret Cameron (English, born in India, 1815-1879)

"Hypatia, Marie Spartali," 1867 or 1868

Albumen print from a wet collodion negative

31.9 x 24.8

The model here presents a very different appearance from many of Cameron’s other milkmaids and daughters of friends, perhaps because she herself was an artists’ model and an accomplished watercolorist. Marie Euphrosyne Spartali (1843‒1927) was the daughter of the Greek consul in London. A pupil of the Pre-R􏰀aphaelite painter Ford Madox Brown, she first exhibited at the Dudley Gallery, and in 1867, about the time of this photograph, she was admitted into the 􏰀Royal Academy. Spartali married the American painter and photographer William James Stillman (1828‒1901) in 1871. Before posing for Cameron, she had modeled for Dante Gabriel R􏰀ossetti, Ford Madox Brown, and Edward Burne-Jones.

Julia Margaret Cameron (English, born in India, 1815-1879)
Sir J. F. W. Herschel, April 1867
Albumen print from a collodion negative
35.7 x 26.4 cm mounted on 43.1 x 32.3 cm paper
Signed, dated, and inscribed by the photographer “April 1867 From life not enlarged taken at Sir John Herschel’s own residence Collingwood by Julia Margaret Cameron” in ink on mount

Julia Margaret Cameron (English, born in India, 1815-1879)
"Alice", September 1872
Albumen print from a collodion negative
28.4 x 10.7 cm mounted on 58.5 x 46.5 cm card, ruled in gilt
Signed, titled and inscribed "From life / Registered Photograph Copyright" in ink with Colnaghi blindstamp on mount

Provenance
Christopher Wood, London; Daniel Wolf, 1997; Jan Leonard and Jerry Peil, Leonard Peil Collection

Literature
Julian Cox and Colin Ford, Julia Margaret Cameron, The Complete Photographs (Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2003) no. 361.
Larry J. Schaaf, Sun Pictures Catalogue Twenty, Julia Margaret Cameron (New York: Hans P. Kraus Jr. Inc., 2011) no. 19, pp. 48-49.

Julia Margaret Cameron (English, born in India, 1815-1879)
Sir J. F. W. Herschel, 1867
Albumen print from a collodion negative
33.4 x 26.1 cm mounted on 46.9 x 40.4 cm paper
Signed, titled and inscribed "From Life taken at his own residence. Collingwood April 1867" in ink on mount

Julia Margaret Cameron (English, born in India, 1815-1879)
"Baby Blossom" Alice Keown, circa 1866
Albumen print from a wet collodion negative
34.1 x 27.8 cm mounted on 52.3 x 45.4 cm card
Signed, inscribed "From life not enlarged" in ink, titled in an unknown hand in pencil, with Colnaghi blindstamp on mount

This almost larger-than-life head was well known to Cameron. It belonged to Alice Jessie Keown, who was born in Freshwater on 25 April 1861, the third daughter of Thomas Keown. In 1892, she married Henry Percival Johnson. Cameron also photographed Alice’s older sister Elizabeth and her younger brother Percy. Alice herself was never known as Baby Blossom, so perhaps Cameron took her inspiration from Ida White’s recently published poem. No other print of this image is known.