Julia Margaret Cameron
The Annunciation

ArtistBritish, born India, 1815–1879
CultureBritish
Titles
  • The Annunciation
  • from the album Mrs. Cameron’s Photographs from the Life
Date1866, assembled 1869
MediumAlbumen silver print from glass negative
DimensionsImage: 13 3/8 × 10 1/4 in. (34 × 26.1 cm)
Sheet: 13 3/8 × 10 1/4 in. (34 × 26.1 cm)
Mount: 18 1/8 × 12 3/8 in. (46 × 31.5 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase
Object number2021.282.36
Not on view

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
Description


This image, also titled After Perugino / The Annunciation, is one of more than 130 reli­giously themed images inspired by Cameron’s deep Christian devotion and her artistic admiration of Italian painting of the early Renaissance. Such photographs adhere to traditional iconography only in the broadest sense. Here, for example, Cameron follows the precedent of paintings of the Annunciation in which the angel Gabriel presents a lily—symbol of purity—to the Virgin Mary. More important, however, Cameron’s sincerity of sentiment imbues her work with an aura of devotion and claims for it a place equal to sacred art of the past.



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: Mary Ryan and The Annunciation and Lizzie Koewen
Catalogue raisonnéCox & Ford p. 505 "Norman Album", plate 113

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Mrs. Herbert Duckworth
Julia Margaret Cameron
1867
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2004.342
Matthew Arnold
Julia Margaret Cameron
1868
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2004.340
Rosalba (Cyllena Wilson)
Julia Margaret Cameron
1867
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2004.335
Joseph Joachim
Julia Margaret Cameron
March 31, 1868
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2004.336
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Julia Margaret Cameron
1865
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2004.338
Alfred Tennyson
Julia Margaret Cameron
1865
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2004.341
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
Herr Joseph Joachim
Julia Margaret Cameron
1868, assembled 1869
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2021.282.10
George Frederic Watts
Julia Margaret Cameron
1864, assembled 1869
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2021.282.11
George Frederic Watts
Julia Margaret Cameron
1865, assembled 1869
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2021.282.12
Henry Thoby Prinsep
Julia Margaret Cameron
1866, assembled 1869
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2021.282.13