Julia Margaret Cameron

circular albumen print, mounted, signed, titled, annotated ‘From life, not enlarged’ in ink, annotation ‘16/’ in pencil, and with the Colnaghi blindstamp on the mount, 1866

Christie’s South Kensington, 16 March 1978, Lot 370

Collection of Paul F. Walter, New York

Sotheby’s London, Fine Photographs from the Collection of Paul F. Walter, 10 May 2001, Sale 1276, Lot 105

Cox 876

This circular portrait is an exceptional print. Grading it on a scale of one to 10 – a 10 being a print that has rich, near-black dark tones and highlights that retain all of their detail – this print rates a very strong 10. The dark areas convey a great sense of depth, and the highlights are a delicate cream color. When examined in high raking light, a very few minor scuffs and surface inconsistencies can be seen --- but these are invisible when the print is viewed normally. The several unobtrusive light colored specks that appear in the image are due to defects on the negative and are not features of the print itself. The mount is lightly foxed overall, although this has not affected the print. The corners and edges show very minor wear.
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While Julia Margaret Cameron regularly drew upon literature and art for her themes, her own work is purely photographic.  Like the portrait of Julia Prinsep Jackson offered as Lot 31, this image of the young Kate Keown presents a detailed and affectionate account of its subject.  The present print is remarkable for the depth of its tonality and Cameron’s expert handling of light on Keown's face.  It is on a full mount, with Cameron’s notations and title inscribed around the circumference of the print. 

Cameron indicates in her title that this is one in a series of twelve ‘lifesized’ portrait studies.  Cameron authority Julian Cox notes that this series was the first work she executed, in the spring and summer of 1866, with a new larger-format camera that produced 15-by-12-inch negatives.  In the days before enlargement was practical and contact printing was the norm, larger negatives allowed for larger prints.  Cameron took to the larger format immediately, as the series of Twelve Lifesized Heads (Cox 874-84) illustrates beautifully.  She was now able to create images of dramatic size as well as impact, while still maintaining the nuance and grace that were already hallmarks of her style.   In this print she has trimmed the image to a tondo, its circular shape referencing both the Renaissance and the work of her contemporaries, the Pre-Raphaelites.  

In Julia Margaret Cameron: The Complete Photographs, Cox locates four other large-format prints of this image in the following collections: the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin (circular); in the Norman Album, private collection, United Kingdom (rectangular); the Tennyson Research Centre, Lincoln, United Kingdom (rectangular); and the Beinecke Library, Yale University (oval).  Additionally, Cox locates two carte-de-visite versions of this portrait.