Artist
Julia Margaret Cameron(British, born India, 1815–1879)British, born India, 1815–1879
CultureBritish
Titles
- Paul and Virginia
- from the album Mrs. Cameron’s Photographs from the Life
Date1864, assembled 1869
MediumAlbumen silver print from glass negative
DimensionsImage: 10 5/16 × 8 1/8 in. (26.2 × 20.6 cm)
Sheet: 10 5/16 × 8 1/8 in. (26.2 × 20.6 cm)
Mount: 18 1/8 × 12 3/8 in. (46 × 31.5 cm)
Sheet: 10 5/16 × 8 1/8 in. (26.2 × 20.6 cm)
Mount: 18 1/8 × 12 3/8 in. (46 × 31.5 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase
Object number2021.282.48
Non exposé
Explore Further
Department
PhotographyObject Type
First published in 1788, the immensely popular French novel Paul et Virginie (first published in English the following year) tells the ultimately tragic story of two children, friends from birth as close as brother and sister, living an Edenic life on the island of Mauritius as they approach romantic and sexual awareness, like the characters in the movie Blue Lagoon that it inspired. Here, Cameron costumed neighbor children, Freddy Gould and Elizabeth Keown, as if for one of the amateur theatricals that she presented at her home in Freshwater, on the Isle of Wight.
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: Freddy Gould and Lizzie Koewen // Paul and Virginia
Catalogue raisonnéCox & Ford p. 505 "Norman Album", plate 23
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.
Julia Margaret Cameron
1867, assembled 1869
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2021.282.23
Julia Margaret Cameron
1866, assembled 1869
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2021.282.24
Julia Margaret Cameron
1866, assembled 1869
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2021.282.25
Julia Margaret Cameron
1869, assembled 1869
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2021.282.62