Case 21 2012/13: A Julia Margaret Cameron Photo Album
Expert adviser’s statement
Reviewing Committee Secretary’s note: Please note that any
illustrations referred to have not been reproduced on the Arts Council
England Website
SUMMARY OF WORK
Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879) – (Compiler)
THE "SIGNOR 1857" ALBUM, 1857
Sotheby’s Sale L12408, 12 December, 2012, Lot 65)
35 photographs by various photographers, including Cameron, Reginald
Southey, Rejlander, and 2nd Earl Brownlow, all mounted individually on within
an album (one leaf now loose), comprising 3 salted paper prints and 32
albumen prints, 24 images with later inscriptions in pencil by Mary Seton
Watts identifying the sitters and occasionally with other notes, one inscription
in ink by George Frederic Watts, a few annotations by Julia Margaret
Cameron, and with further pencil inscriptions in two further hands, one
providing children’s ages, the other identifying sitters, also with a later
inscription on the front pastedown giving an (incorrect) summary of the
content, four stubs, one page with adhesive residue where a photograph or
other insertion has apparently been removed, 35 pages, plus blanks, 4to (246
x 197mm), green morocco, marbled endpapers, gilt borders and gilt stamped
on upper cover “Signor.1857”.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879) was one of the greatest nineteenth
century artists in any medium and one of the greatest photographers that
Britain has ever produced. She took her first photograph in 1864 but was
actively involved with photography prior to this, compiling a number of albums.
The Signor 1857 album is the earliest of eight recorded photographic albums
assembled by Cameron in the period before she took up photography herself.
Almost certainly compiled by Cameron as a gift to her friend, the artist
G.F.Watts, the album anticipates the photographs she would later make with
her own camera, mixing images of the famous with the familial to create a
celebration of art, photography, family and friendship. It contains work by
several different photographers (some unattributed), including 15 unique
images.
The Signor 1857 Album is a hugely important piece of evidence in explaining
how Cameron, a middle-aged woman with no previous experience of visual
art-making became one of the most celebrated of photographers. By
connecting her life and her fascination with photography to the social circles
and artistic practice of G.F.Watts, the Signor 1857 Album illuminates the
historical moment when originality became the defining hallmark of Cameron’s
art. It clearly meets Waverley Criterion 3 since it is of outstanding significance
for the study of the history of photography.
Bibliographic reference:
Joanne Lukitsh, ‘Before 1864: Julia Margaret Cameron’s Early Work in
Photography’ in Julian Cox and Colin Ford, Julia Margaret Cameron: The
Complete Photographs, Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2003.
DETAILED CASE
The objection to the export of this album compiled by Julia Margaret Cameron
is based on its outstanding significance for the study of Cameron’s work and
the history of photography.
Julia Margaret Cameron, one of the most celebrated of nineteenth century
photographers, didn’t take her first photograph until 1864, when she was
nearly fifty years old. In recent years, however, scholars have explored how
she was actively involved with photography prior to this. The Signor 1857
album is both an important artefact for the understanding of Cameron’s
development as a photographic artist and an important example of how
photographs were embedded within avant-garde art-making of the day.
The Signor 1857 album is the earliest of eight recorded photographic albums
that Cameron compiled before she took up photography for herself - the
others being the Lansdowne [UK private collection], SN1859, JHN, [both
National Media Museum, UK], Mia [US private collection], Somers-Cocks [UK
private collection], MacTier [untraced] and JMC to GFW Albums [US public
collection].
The album contains work by several different photographers (some
unattributed), including 15 unique images. It anticipates the photographs
Cameron would later make for herself. In addition to portraits of the ‘great
men’ of her acquaintance, Henry Taylor (no. 13), Alfred Tennyson (no. 15),
George Frederic Watts (no. 1) and John Herschel (nos 12 & 31), it contains
photographs of her children and her nephews and nieces; this mixing of the
famous and the familial would become a hallmark of her photography.
The Signor 1857 album is a testament to Cameron’s engagement with the
work of G.F. Watts and her growing interest in photography’s place within the
fine arts. From the early 1850s, Watts lived with Cameron’s sister Sara and
her husband Henry Thoby Prinsep (no. 9) at Little Holland House in
Kensington, London. In 1864, Watts would also become the recipient of the
first (known) album of photographs that Cameron made with her own camera.
‘Signor’ was the name that Sophia Dalrymple, another of Cameron’s sisters
(nos 23 &29), gave to the artist. The album begins with a previously
unrecorded and unattributed photographic portrait of Watts by Earl Brownlow
followed by a sequence of photographic copies after portrait drawings Watts
made during the 1850s, some of the originals for which are currently untraced.
Turning the album upside down, there is a second sequence of photographs,
this time of photographic portraits from life. Some of the photographs in this
‘back to front’ sequence are unique to the Signor 1857 album. These include
two photographs which are almost certainly by Earl Somers, an important
figure in the history of photography, to whom no photographs have, until now,
been firmly attributed. There is a study of Cameron with all six of her children
(previously unrecorded and unique to this album), and a sequence of twelve
photographs that appear to have been taken by the same hand in the same
setting and which features Tennyson (no. 15), Taylor (no. 13), Cameron
herself (no. 21), Sophia Dalrymple (no. 23) [unique to this album], a portrait of
Cameron’s nieces Julia and Mary Jackson (no. 16) and studies featuring
Cameron’s sons Eugene, Ewen, Hardinge, Charles and Henry Cameron.
Cameron’s personal input is very much in evidence. There are cropping
instructions on the reverse of a couple of the prints made in Cameron’s
handwriting. There are also numbers written in pencil on the reverse of the
prints which suggest that the photographs were inserted according to a preconceived sequence. The numbering is also in Cameron’s distinctive looping
hand which seems to confirm that the album was, in effect, authored or
‘curated’ by her. One may also speculate that Cameron was possibly involved
in suggesting the composition of some of these images.
Despite there being a large published body of scholarship on Cameron as
photographer, key early photographs relating to her remain unattributed. The
Signor 1857 album hints at a direct connection between Cameron’s own
practice and contemporary commercial photography, a connection that has
generally been overlooked by Cameron scholars.
Cameron is one of the most documented of early photographers; it is now
time to consider in full the conditions of her late blossoming into an artist in
photography. The Signor 1857 Album is a hugely important and significant
piece of evidence in the story of how, in mid-Victorian England, a middle-aged
woman with no previous experience of visual art-making became one of the
most celebrated exponents of picture-making by photography. By connecting
Cameron’s life and her fascination with photography to the social circles and
artistic practice of George Frederic Watts, the Signor 1857 Album illuminates
the historical moment when originality became the defining hallmark of
Cameron’s serious art. This album still holds many secrets which are yet to be
revealed. Further study in conjunction with the other early albums, in
particular those in the collection of the National Media Museum, would
significantly contribute to understanding Cameron’s aesthetic development
prior to owning a camera. Such research would be particularly timely as we
approach the bi-centenary of Cameron’s birth in 2015.
Appendix – List of Photographs in the Album:
1. John William Spencer Brownlow Egerton-Cust, 2nd Earl
Brownlow, [George Frederic Watts, ¾ profile before the doors of the North
Porch at Ashridge, Hertfordshire], 1865, albumen print (vignetted), 75 x
69mm, previously unrecorded
2. Unidentified photographer, [Photograph of an untraced pencil study by G F
Watts of Adeline Jackson), 1850s], mid to late 1850s, 92 x 74mm [other
copies: Lansdowne Album (private collection, UK), Julia Hay Norman
album (hereafter JHN, National Media Museum, UK)]
3. Unidentified photographer, [Photograph of an untraced chalk study by G F
Watts of Julia Margaret Cameron, probably 1852], mid to late 1850s, albumen
print (cropped to oval), 203 x 168mm, [other copies: Lansdowne Album,
Sibella Norman 1859 Album (hereafter SN 1859 , National Media Museum,
UK), Mia Album (private collection, USA)]
4. Unidentified photographer, [Photograph of an untraced pencil study by G F
Watts of Emma Brandling, later Lady Lilford], mid to late 1850s, albumen print
(cropped to oval), 108 x 87mm, previously unrecorded
5. Unidentified photographer, [Photograph of an untraced painting by G F
Watts of Julia Hay Norman, née Cameron, probably early 1850s], mid to late
1850s, albumen print, 101 x 80mm [other copies: SN1859]
6. Unidentified photographer, [Photograph of colour chalk drawing by G.F.
Watts of Virginia Julian Dalrymple, 1853], 1853 to late 1850s, albumen print,
104 x 90mm, previously unrecorded
7. Unidentified photographer, [Photograph of an untraced pencil study by
G.F.Watts of Lady Charlotte Guest, probably 1854], 1854-late 1850s,
albumen print, 140 x 118mm, previously unrecorded
8. Unidentified photographer, [Photograph of an untraced chalk study by G F
Watts of Sir Ivor Guest, 1857], c. 1857, albumen print, 140 x
119mm, previously unrecorded
9. Unidentified photographer, [Photograph of an untraced pencil study by G F
Watts of Henry Thoby Prinsep, mid to late 1850s, albumen print, 117 x
111mm, [other copies: Lansdowne]
10. Unidentified photographer, [Photograph of a chalk drawing by G.F. Watts
of James Spedding, c. 1853], mid to late 1850s, albumen print, 198 x 130mm,
[other copies: Lansdowne, Mia]
11. O.G. Rejlander(?), Portrait of William Bayley (1849-1867)], c. 1863,
albumen print, 113 x 75mm [other copies: Mia, SN1859, JHN]
12. after Julia Margaret Cameron, Portrait of Sir John Herschel, April 1867 or
later, albumen copy print, 94 x 71mm [Cox & Ford, no. 676]
The following sequence begins at the back of the album:
13. James Mudd or Joseph Cundall (?), [Portrait of Sir Henry Taylor seated],
1857-8, albumen print, 225 x 178mm, inscribed in pencil by M.S. Watts on the
album (“by J.M. Cameron” and “Sir Henry Taylor author of Philip van
Artevelde”) [other copies: Lansdowne]
14. James Mudd or Joseph Cundall (?), [Portrait of Henry Herschel Hay
Cameron seated, hat on knee], 1857-8, albumen print, 197 x 150mm,
inscribed in pencil by M.S. Watts on album (“by Mrs Julia Margaret
Cameron/née Pattle” and “Harry Cameron”) [other copies: Lansdowne;
reproduced in Cox & Ford, 2003, fig. 66.]
15. James Mudd or Joseph Cundall (?), [Portrait of Alfred, Lord Tennyson
seated with a book, his wide-awake hat on his knee], 1857-8, albumen print,
239 x 184mm, [other copies: Lansdowne, SN1859, and other collections]
16. James Mudd or Joseph Cundall (?), [Portrait of Mary Louisa Fisher and
Julia Prinsep Stephen, both née Jackson], 1857-8, albumen print, 187 x
140mm, [other copies: Lansdowne ]
17. James Mudd or Joseph Cundall (?), [Hardinge and Ewen Cameron
playing chess], 1857-8, albumen print, 186 x 136mm [max. dim.], [other
copies: Lansdowne, JHN]
18 Unattributed photographer, [Group portrait featuring Hardinge Cameron,
Arthur Prinsep, a boy identified as "Maurice", Charles Cameron Jr and
Valentine Prinsep seated on a bough], c. 1854, albumen print, 146 x
183mm, [other copies: Lansdowne, Mia], see also no. 26
19. Unattributed photographer, [Henry Herschel Hay Cameron on a highbacked divan], probably 1854, albumen print from a glass negative, 114 x
136mm, [other copies: Lansdowne, Mia, JHN; this print reproduced: Cox &
Ford 2003, fig 67]
20. James Mudd or Joseph Cundall (?), [Henry Herschel Hay Cameron,
seated, and Charles Cameron (standing, holding a hat)], 1857-8, albumen
print, 185 x 144mm,this photograph is believed to be unique [reproduced: Cox
& Ford 2003, fig 65]
21. James Mudd or Joseph Cundall (?), [Julia Margaret Cameron, seated,
with Charles and Henry Cameron], 1857-8, albumen print, 190 x 154mm,
[other copies: JHN, NPG, London, Wilson Centre for Photography, London,
Hans P Kraus Jr Fine Photographs, New York, and others]
22. Unattributed photographer, [Group portrait of Julia Margaret Cameron and
her six children (Hardinge, Henry, Eugene, Julia, Charles, Ewen), seated on
the trunk of a fallen tree], c. 1854, albumen print, 150 x 191mm, previously
unrecorded
23. James Mudd or Joseph Cundall (?), [Sophia Dalrymple, née Pattle], 18578, albumen print, 188 x 149mm, previously unrecorded
24. James Mudd or Joseph Cundall (?), [Ewen Cameron, standing, holding a
book], 1857-8, albumen print, 201 x 151mm, previously unrecorded
25. James Mudd or Joseph Cundall (?), [Eugene Cameron, seated, holding a
book],1857-8, 182 x 132mm, [other copies: JHN, SN1859]
26. Unattributed photographer, [Hardinge and Ewen Cameron seated on a
bough],c. 1854, albumen print, 175 x 128mm, no. 18 is a variant from the
same sitting [other copies: Mia, JHN]
27. Reginald Southey, [Henry Herschel Hay and Charles Hay Cameron
seated on a divan], probably April 1857, albumen print, cropped to oval, 63 x
82mm [other copies: Cotsen Collection, Princeton University Library, RS5: 34]
28. 3rd Earl Somers (?), [Woman (possibly Virginia, Lady Somers) standing,
the South Porch, Highcliffe Castle, Dorset], probably 1850, 223 x 170mm,
salted paper print, inscribed by Julia Margaret Cameron in ink on lower left of
the image (“[From] life/[ta]ken at/[H]igh Cliffe”), previously unrecorded
29. 3rd Earl Somers (?), [Sophia Dalrymple posed holding a flower in an
interior at Highcliffe Castle, Dorset], 1860s albumen print from paper negative
probably dating from 1850, 199 x 183mm, inscribed by Julia Margaret
Cameron in ink on the image (“from life taken at High Cliffe”), previously
unrecorded
30. after Robert S. Tait, Thomas Carlyle, 1851, 1860s, albumen copy print,
136 x 113mm
31. after O.G. Rejlander, Sir John Herschel holding a book, c. 1863, c. 1863
or after, albumen copy print, 114 x 90mm [another copy print in Lansdowne]
32. James Mudd or Joseph Cundall (?), [Henry H.H. Cameron (seated with
cushion) and Charles Cameron (standing, holding a hat) in matching
outfits], 1857-8, albumen print, 204 x 158mm, previously unrecorded
33. James Mudd or Joseph Cundall (?), [Henry H. H. Cameron wearing a dark
jacket], 1857-8, albumen print, 206 x 154mm, a variant of no. 14, previously
unrecorded
34. Unattributed photographer, [Half-length study of a woman wearing a dark
cloak with her hair down], early to mid 1850s, salted paper print, 193 x
141mm,previously unrecorded
35. Unattributed photographer, [Valentine Prinsep], mid to late 1850s, salted
paper print, 142 x 110mm, believed to be unique [reproduced: Cox & Fox,
2003, fig. 68]