Julia Margaret Cameron
The Dirty Monk, Alfred Tennyson

ArtistBritish, born India, 1815–1879
CultureBritish
Titles
  • The Dirty Monk, Alfred Tennyson
  • from the album Mrs. Cameron’s Photographs from the Life
Date1865, assembled 1869
MediumAlbumen silver print from glass negative
DimensionsImage: 9 3/4 × 7 7/8 in. (24.7 × 20 cm)
Sheet: 9 3/4 × 7 7/8 in. (24.7 × 20 cm)
Mount: 18 1/8 × 12 3/8 in. (46 × 31.5 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase
Object number2021.282.19
Non exposé

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Department
Photography
Object Type
Description


A brilliant poet from an early age, Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892) was widely published and admired by 1850, when Queen Victoria named him Poet Laureate  to succeed William Wordsworth. “The Lady of Shalott,” “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” and Idylls of the King, a poetic cycle based on the Arthurian legends, are among his best remembered works. Tennyson thought Cameron’s portraits made him look like he had bags under his eyes (correctly, it would seem), and he dubbed this one The Dirty Monk. The image served as the frontispiece for Cameron’s volume of illustrations for the poet’s Idylls of the King.



ProvenanceGiven by the artist to her daughter Julia and son-in-law Charles Norman; by descent to his son Archibald Cameron Norman; by descent to his son Charles Lloyd Norman; by descent to his son Charles Wake Norman; by descent to his son to William Norman; by descent to his son Stephen Norman; [consigned to Hans P. Kraus, New York, 2012]; purchased by MFAH, 2021.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscribed on mount recto, below image: The dirty Monk' so called by the Laureate with whom this Portrait is a favorite
Catalogue raisonnéCox & Ford p. 505 "Norman Album", plate 796

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Julia Margaret Cameron
1865
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2004.338
Alfred Tennyson
Julia Margaret Cameron
June 3, 1869, assembled 1869
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2021.282.6
Alfred Tennyson
Julia Margaret Cameron
1865
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2004.341
Lionel Tennyson in the character of Marquis de St. Cast
Julia Margaret Cameron
1869, assembled 1869
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2021.282.62
Lionel Tennyson in the character of Marquis de St. Cast
Julia Margaret Cameron
1869, assembled 1869
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2021.282.31
Déjatch Alámayou & Báshá Félika, King Theodore's Son & Captain Speedy
Julia Margaret Cameron
1868, assembled 1869
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2021.282.47
Paul and Virginia
Julia Margaret Cameron
1864, assembled 1869
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2021.282.48
William Michael Rossetti
Julia Margaret Cameron
1865
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2004.339
Herr [Joseph] Joachim
Julia Margaret Cameron
1868
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2004.343
Henry Taylor
Julia Margaret Cameron
1865, assembled 1869
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2021.282.18
Adriana
Julia Margaret Cameron
1866, assembled 1869
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2021.282.20
The Mountain Nymph Sweet Liberty
Julia Margaret Cameron
1866, assembled 1869
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2021.282.21