Portraits of Victorian Geniuses by Julia Margaret Cameron

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Julia Margaret Cameron was born in Calcutta in 1815, spent her childhood and youth there, married, and then moved to London. At the age of 48, Margaret received an unexpected gift from her daughter - a camera - and plunged into the still new art of photography with joyful enthusiasm.

The first heroes of her filming were family members, neighbors and servants. Margaret Cameron had a unique style, her photographs were distinguished by sullen shadows, informal and thoughtful poses, and even a little blur. During her short career as a photographer (12 years), she took about 900 photographs, capturing the titans of her time and the Victorian intelligentsia - from the poet Alfred Tennyson to Charles Darwin. Often, those she photographed appeared as religious or mystical figures.

(Total 16 photos)

Source: mashable.com

Portraits of Victorian Geniuses by Julia Margaret Cameron

Writer Thomas Carlyle.

Portraits of Victorian Geniuses by Julia Margaret Cameron

Writer James Spedding.

Portraits of Victorian Geniuses by Julia Margaret Cameron

Writer Anthony Trollope, 1864.

Portraits of Victorian Geniuses by Julia Margaret Cameron

Julia Margaret Cameron's husband, lawyer Charles Cameron, as a wise old man, 1870.

Portraits of Victorian Geniuses by Julia Margaret Cameron

Astronomer and physicist John Herschel.

Portraits of Victorian Geniuses by Julia Margaret Cameron

Playwright and poet Henry Taylor, 1864.

Portraits of Victorian Geniuses by Julia Margaret Cameron

Poet Alfred Tennyson, 1885

Portraits of Victorian Geniuses by Julia Margaret Cameron

Charles Darwin, 1870s.

Portraits of Victorian Geniuses by Julia Margaret Cameron

Portrait of Julia Jackson, niece of Julia Margaret. Julia Jackson will later have a daughter, Virginia Woolf.

Portraits of Victorian Geniuses by Julia Margaret Cameron

Julia Jackson, mother of Virginia Woolf.

Portraits of Victorian Geniuses by Julia Margaret Cameron

Astronomer and physicist John Herschel.

Portraits of Victorian Geniuses by Julia Margaret Cameron

Adolphus Liddell, 1867

Portraits of Victorian Geniuses by Julia Margaret Cameron

Portrait of the photographer's niece as an old woman.

Portraits of Victorian Geniuses by Julia Margaret Cameron

Young plantation worker, Ceylon, circa 1875.

Portraits of Victorian Geniuses by Julia Margaret Cameron

Portrait of a young Italian, possibly Alessandro Colorossi. Cameron's only photograph of a professional model.

Portraits of Victorian Geniuses by Julia Margaret Cameron

The photo was created based on the fifth book of Alfred Tennyson's Idylls of the King (1859). In the photo, Cameron recreates the moment when Merlin (her husband Charles) is substituted under the spell of the sorceress Vivienne (Agnes Mangles). Mangles later wrote that Charles simply could not get into a theatrical pose without grimacing with laughter, ruining many of the negatives.

Keywords: 19th century | Great Britain | Victorian era | Writer | Portraits | Poet | Photographer

     

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