Julia Margaret Cameron
The Vestal

ArtistBritish, born India, 1815–1879
CultureBritish
Titles
  • The Vestal
  • from the album Mrs. Cameron’s Photographs from the Life
Date1868, assembled 1869
MediumAlbumen silver print from glass negative
DimensionsImage: 10 15/16 × 8 7/8 in. (27.8 × 22.6 cm)
Sheet: 10 15/16 × 8 7/8 in. (27.8 × 22.6 cm)
Mount: 18 1/8 × 12 3/8 in. (46 × 31.5 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase
Object number2021.282.37
Not on view

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
Description


A visitor to Cameron’s home in Freshwater on the Isle of Wight, Hatty Campbell was pressed into service as a model for eight photographs titled The Echo, The Guardian Angel, and The Vestal (shown here), referring to the virgin priestesses in Greek mythology charged with keeping the temple’s eternal flame alight. Almost without exception, Cameron’s female portraits bear biblical, historical, or literary titles, no doubt in part to make them more marketable than mere portraits of the photog­rapher’s family, friends, or house servants, but also because she looked for characteristics in her sitters that shared qualities with such subjects.

 


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: The Vestal // Hatty Campbell
Catalogue raisonnéCox & Ford p. 505 "Norman Album", plate 182

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Julia Margaret Cameron
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