This is one of Lady Hawarden’s most interesting ‘Photographic Studies’ or ‘Studies from Life’, as she titled her photographs. Her two eldest daughters are shown seated in the family home, one reading and the other sewing. On the wall above the fireplace is an array of framed etchings by Francis Seymour Haden. Haden was the family physician and was also related to the painter James McNeill Whistler. He based a number of etchings on photographs by Hawarden. Above the group of framed pictures is a photograph by Oscar Rejlander, ‘After Raphael’s Sistine Madonna’. In it, two children re-enact the composition of Raphael’s famous painting of the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child, which is now in Dresden.
Rejlander wrote an obituary of Hawarden after her death in 1864. His pioneering creative work during the 1850s is likely to have encouraged Hawarden’s own experiments. The photograph documents a domestic moment but also records significant aspects of Hawarden’s artistic environment. Viewed through a stereoscope, this stereograph would have yielded clear and detailed images of the pictures on the wall.
Physical description
Sepia sterescopic photograph, mounted on green card, showing two young women seated in armchairs beside a fireplace. Above the fireplace seven framed pictures hang on the wall.
Place of Origin
South Kensington, England (photographed)
Date
ca. 1861-1862 (photographed)
Artist/maker
Clementina, Lady Hawarden, born 1822 - died 1865 (photographer)
Materials and Techniques
Photograph
Dimensions
Height: 9.6 cm, Width: 16.4 cm image
Historical context note
From departmental notes
'Clementina, Lady Hawarden(Untitled) Photographic Study (or) Study from Life (D.356) c.1861-c.1862 ?5 Princes Gardens, interior: Isabella Grace (right profile), eyes down, with book, and Clementina (left profile), with needlework, both seated before fireplace. Above the mantelpiece, surrounding what appears to be a portrait (possibly of Lady Hawarden?) are five framed prints by Sir Francis Seymour Haden (clockwise from lower left): Out of Study Window (S.17)*; Thames Fishermen, No. I (S.18); A By-Road in Tipperary (S.30); Mytton Hall (S.19); and Egham (S.20). Above this arrangement is a framed copy of Oscar Gustav Rejlander's photograph After Raphael's Sistine Madonna (c1857). * Refer to catalogue numbers in Richard S. Schneiderman, A Catalogue Raisonne of the Prints of Sir Francis Seymour Haden, 1983. Print from same negative as PH 457-1968:543 (D.357). 96 x 164 mm (stereoscopic) PH 457-1968:499 Microfilm: 3.19.484; V&A Picture Library negat" e no. GG 4953. Also: ed. Graham Ovenden, Clementina Lady Hawarden, 1974, p.9 (left half); Virginia Dodier, 'Haden, Photography and Salmon Fishing', Print Quarterl , Ill, 1986, p.37, fig.23 (discussed p.40). The Golden Age of British Photography (travelli exhibition), victoria and Albert Museum, 1984-8 • This photograph provides evidence of the HadenHawarden association at a crucial early stage in his career as an etcher. [See article cited above for full discussion.] The inclusion of the Rejlander photograph, which was shown at the 1857 Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition, is an indication of Lady Hawarden's admiration for him. Rejlander was considered the pre-eminent art photographer; indeed, he had practically invented the genre. In his work, Rejlander--like Lady Hawarden--conflated the categories of portraiture and studies from life. There are similarities between Lady Hawarden's and Rejlander's styles, particularly in the sensitive approach to photographing children. Rejlander was considered the master of composition and of light, two qualities also admired in Lady Hawarden's photographs. However, although Rejlander wrote an appreciate obituary of Lady Hawarden 0. G. Rejlander, 'In Memoriam', British Journal of Photography, 10:38 (27 January 1865)], there is no other documentation of their association, nor any indication of the ways in which they may have influenced each other.However, although Rejlander wrote an appreciate obituary of Lady Hawarden [0. G. Rejlander), 'In Memoriam', British Journal of Photography, 10:38 (27 January 1865)], there is no other documentation of their association, nor any indication of the ways in which they may have influenced each other.'
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Microfilm: 3.19.484; V&A Picture Library negat" e no. GG 4953. Also: ed. Graham Ovenden, Clementina Lady Hawarden, 1974, p.9 (left half); Virginia Dodier, 'Haden, Photography and Salmon Fishing', Print Quarterl , Ill, 1986, p.37, fig.23 (discussed p.40). V. Dodier, Clementina, Lady Hawarden, Studies from Life 1857-1864, V&A Publications 1999, repr. p.93
Exhibition History
The Golden Age of British Photography (travelli exhibition), Victoria and Albert Museum, 1984-8
Production Note
Reason For Production: Retail
Materials
Photograph
Techniques
Albumen process
Subjects depicted
Furniture; Books; Interior; South Kensington; Reading; Maude, Clementina; Wallpaper; Maude, Isabella Grace; Sewing
Categories
Portraits; Interiors; Photographs
Production Type
Unlimited edition
Collection code
PDP
