2d. Version of Study after the Elgin Marbles

2d. Version of Study after the Elgin Marbles thumbnail 1

2d. Version of Study after the Elgin Marbles thumbnail 2

Not currently on display at the V&A

On short term loan out for exhibition

Artist/Maker	Cameron, Julia Margaret (photographer)
Place of origin	England (photographed)

Just as she modelled her Madonna photographs on Renaissance art, Julia Margaret Cameron looked to painting and sculpture as inspiration for her allegorical and narrative subjects. Some works are photographic interpretations of specific paintings by artists such as Raphael and Michelangelo. Others aspired more generally to create ‘Pictorial Effect’.

Cameron's harshest critics attacked her for using the supposedly truthful medium of photography to depict imaginary subject matter. Some suggested that at best her photographs could serve as studies for painters. The South Kensington Museum, however, purchased only 'Madonnas' and 'Fancy Subjects', and exhibited them as pictures in their own right.

Object details

Categories	Photographs SCRAN Woman Artist Woman Photographer
Object type	Photograph
Title	2d. Version of Study after the Elgin Marbles (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques	Albumen print from wet collodion glass negative Photographic Paper Albumen Process
Brief description	Photograph by Julia Margaret Cameron, '2d. Version of Study after the Elgin Marbles' (sitters Cyllena Wilson, Mary Hillier), albumen print, 1867
Physical description	A photograph of two seated woman, in flowing light coloured dresses, one facing the camera (Cyllena Wilson), the other (Mary Hillier) in profile, leaning against her.
Dimensions	Height: 58.2cm Width: 46.5cm Dimensions checked: Measured; 08/09/2000 by PaperCons Measured mount dimensions previously given as 74.9 x 54.4
Style	Victorian
Gallery label	British Galleries: The photographer, Julia Margaret Cameron, experimented with different attitudes and poses of her models.The poses of the two figures in this photograph imitate the poses of two headless figures from the sculptures in the British Museum known as the Elgin Marbles. These marbles were widely copied and were a source of inspiration for artists.(27/03/2003) Object Type Albumen prints were the first glossy, coated photographic prints. They were in general use from about 1855 to 1890. They were made from thin paper, which was first coated with a mixture of whisked albumen (egg white) and salt, then sensitised with silver nitrate. This print was made from a glass negative. Ownership & Use Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879) printed photographs to show in fine art exhibitions and gave copies to family, friends and sitters. In 1865 the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) became the first museum to exhibit and purchase her works. That same year Cameron sent 34 photographs as a gift to the collection. Her photographs were deposited in the Art Library and in the Circulation Department (which distributed artworks and teaching materials to tour throughout the country). However the Museum's Prints, Drawings and Paintings Department acquired this particular photograph in the 1990s. People The two people in the photograph are Cyllena Wilson (on the left) and Mary Ryan (on the right). Wilson was the daughter of a missionary orphaned at 15 and adopted by Cameron. Later, in 1870, she ran away from the Camerons' home on the Isle of Wight. Ryan was a London beggar who had approached Cameron. The photographer was struck by her beauty and offered her a job as her housemaid while also employing her as a model.
Credit line	Nevinson Bequest, 1990
Object history	Julia Margaret Cameron's career as a photographer began in 1863 when her daughter gave her a camera. Cameron began photographing everyone in sight. Because of the newness of photography as a practice, she was free to make her own rules and not be bound to convention. The kinds of images being made at the time did not interest Cameron. She was interested in capturing another kind of photographic truth. Not one dependent on accuracy of sharp detail, but one that depicted the emotional state of her sitter. Cameron liked the soft focus portraits and the streak marks on her negatives, choosing to work with these irregularities, making them part of her pictures. Although at the time Cameron was seen as an unconventional and experimental photographer, her images have a solid place in the history of photography. Most of Cameron's photographs are portraits. She used members of her family as sitters and made photographs than concentrated on their faces. She was interested in conveying their natural beauty, often asking female sitters to let down their hair so as to show them in a way that they were not accustomed to presenting themselves. In addition to making stunning and evocative portraits both of male and female subjects, Cameron also staged tableaux and posed her sitters in situations that simulated allegorical paintings.
Subjects depicted	Sculpture Mary Ann Hillier Cyllena Margaret Wilson The Sale of the Elgin Marbles to the British Government
Summary	Just as she modelled her Madonna photographs on Renaissance art, Julia Margaret Cameron looked to painting and sculpture as inspiration for her allegorical and narrative subjects. Some works are photographic interpretations of specific paintings by artists such as Raphael and Michelangelo. Others aspired more generally to create ‘Pictorial Effect’. Cameron's harshest critics attacked her for using the supposedly truthful medium of photography to depict imaginary subject matter. Some suggested that at best her photographs could serve as studies for painters. The South Kensington Museum, however, purchased only 'Madonnas' and 'Fancy Subjects', and exhibited them as pictures in their own right.
Bibliographic reference	Cox, Julian and Colin Ford, with contributions by Joanne Lukitsh and Philippa Wright. Julia Margaret Cameron: The Complete Photographs. London: Thames & Hudson, in association with The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles and The National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, Bradford, 2003. ISBN: 0-500-54265-1 Cat. no. 1111, p. 454
Collection	Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number	E.2745-1990

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Record created	March 27, 2003
Record URL	https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O78191/2d-version-of-study-after-photograph-cameron-julia-margaret/

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