- The Vestal
- from the album Mrs. Cameron’s Photographs from the Life
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)
Explore Further
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
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