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

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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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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
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
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
Mary Mother
Julia Margaret Cameron
1867, assembled 1869
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2021.282.23
Love in Idleness
Julia Margaret Cameron
1866, assembled 1869
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2021.282.24
Beatrice
Julia Margaret Cameron
1866, assembled 1869
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2021.282.25