Cameron first met Sir John Herschel (1792–1871), Victorian England’s preeminent scientist, astronomer, and mathematician, in 1836, and it was he who first told her of photography’s invention a few years later. No commercial portrait photographer of the period would have portrayed Herschel as Cameron did, devoid of classical columns, weighty volumes, scientific attributes, and academic poses—the standard vehicles for conveying a sitter’s high stature and classical learning. To her, Herschel was “a Teacher and High Priest,” an “illustrious and revered as well as beloved friend” who she portrayed emerging from the darkness like a vision of an Old Testament prophet.