Julia Margaret Cameron
Adriana

ArtistBritish, born India, 1815–1879
CultureBritish
Titles
  • Adriana
  • from the album Mrs. Cameron’s Photographs from the Life
Date1866, assembled 1869
MediumAlbumen silver print from glass negative
DimensionsImage: 13 7/16 × 10 3/8 in. (34.2 × 26.4 cm)
Sheet: 13 7/16 × 10 3/8 in. (34.2 × 26.4 cm)
Mount: 18 1/8 × 12 3/8 in. (46 × 31.5 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase
Object number2021.282.20
Current Location
The Nancy and Rich Kinder Building
Gallery 208
On view

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
Description


While Julia Margaret Cameron’s photographs of men usually portrayed Victorian luminaries, her female subjects were most often friends, relatives, or household servants presented in the guise of literary, historical, or biblical figures. Here, she presents her beautiful young housemaid Mary Hillier as Adriana, the lead female character in Henry Taylor’s play Philip van Artevelde, which Cameron greatly admired. This portrait, in perfect profile, was perhaps inspired by the chromolithographic reproductions of early Renaissance paintings distributed by the Arundel Society, of which Cameron was a member.



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: Adriana / Study for Mary Hillier
Catalogue raisonnéCox & Ford p. 505 "Norman Album", plate 255

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

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
The Dirty Monk, Alfred Tennyson
Julia Margaret Cameron
1865, assembled 1869
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2021.282.19
The Mountain Nymph Sweet Liberty
Julia Margaret Cameron
1866, assembled 1869
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2021.282.21
The Honourable Frank Charteris
Julia Margaret Cameron
1867, assembled 1869
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2021.282.14
William Gifford Palgrave
Julia Margaret Cameron
1868, assembled 1869
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2021.282.15
Kate Keown
Julia Margaret Cameron
1866, assembled 1869
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2021.282.16
The Christ Kind
Julia Margaret Cameron
1868, assembled 1869
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2021.282.17
Christabel
Julia Margaret Cameron
1866, assembled 1869
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2021.282.22