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Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level F , Case X, Shelf 311, Box H

Madonna and Two Children

Photograph
1864 (photographed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Julia Margaret Cameron's mentor and friend, the artist G.F. Watts wrote to Cameron, ‘Please do not send me valuable mounted copies … send me any … defective unmounted impressions, I shall be able to judge just as well & shall be just as much charmed with success & shall not feel that I am taking money from you.’ This is one of approximately 67 in the V&A's collection that was recently discovered to have belonged to him. Many are unique, which suggests that Cameron was not fully satisfied with them. Some may seem ‘defective’ but others are enhanced by their flaws. All of them contribute to our understanding of Cameron’s working process and the photographs that did meet her standards.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleMadonna and Two Children (popular title)
Materials and techniques
Albumen print from wet collodion glass negative
Brief description
Photograph by Julia Margaret Cameron, 'Madonna and Two Children' (sitters Elizabeth Keown, Mary Kellaway, Alice Keown), albumen print, 1864
Physical description
Half-length portrait of a woman (Mary Kellaway) dressed as the Madonna, looking to her left, holding two small children (Elizabeth and Alice Keown).
Dimensions
  • Image height: 23.7cm
  • Image width: 19.8cm
  • Mount height: 24.2cm
  • Mount width: 20cm
Style
Credit line
Given by Mrs Margaret Southam, 1941
Subjects depicted
Summary
Julia Margaret Cameron's mentor and friend, the artist G.F. Watts wrote to Cameron, ‘Please do not send me valuable mounted copies … send me any … defective unmounted impressions, I shall be able to judge just as well & shall be just as much charmed with success & shall not feel that I am taking money from you.’ This is one of approximately 67 in the V&A's collection that was recently discovered to have belonged to him. Many are unique, which suggests that Cameron was not fully satisfied with them. Some may seem ‘defective’ but others are enhanced by their flaws. All of them contribute to our understanding of Cameron’s working process and the photographs that did meet her standards.
Bibliographic references
  • Julian Cox and Colin Ford, et al. Julia Margaret Cameron: the complete photographs. London : Thames and Hudson, 2003. Cat. no. 72.
  • Taken from Photography Department index card catalogue
Collection
Accession number
PH.345-1981

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Record createdJune 4, 2004
Record URL
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