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Henry Taylor
Julia Margaret Cameron, born 1815 - died 1879 - Enlarge image
Henry Taylor
- Object:
Photograph
- Place of origin:
England, Great Britain (photographed)
- Date:
1864 (photographed)
- Artist/Maker:
Julia Margaret Cameron, born 1815 - died 1879 (photographer)
- Materials and Techniques:
Albumen print from wet collodion glass negative
- Credit Line:
Provenance not documented
- Museum number:
211-1969
- Gallery location:
Prints & Drawings Study Room, level H, case X, shelf 311, box J
Julia Margaret Cameron met Henry Taylor (1800-1886) and his wife shortly after their move from India to Kent in England where Taylor and his wife were neighbours. Like her portraits of Tennyson and Watts, many of her photographs of Taylor, (Cameron's most frequently photographed male subject), mark her friendship with the poet and attempt to convey the "greatness of the inner as well as the features of the outer man". Another of her "famous men", this photograph is typically devoid of the props or extravagant costumes associated with literary and biblical illustrations. There is a gentle introspection to Taylor's downward gaze and a marked stillness of pose in the photograph. Surrounded by darkness Taylor's white hair and long beard are emphasised and are the main visual focus of the image. His hands, placed in his lap create another highlight and serve to ground him in the composition .
As with other of her well known sitters, Cameron had Taylor sign the mounts of her photographs for sale and also had facsimile signatures copied to mounts.
