Julia Margaret Cameron

albumen print, on a gilt-ruled mount, signed and annotated ‘From Life, Freshwater, May 1868’ in ink and titled in pencil and with the Colnaghi blindstamp on the mount, framed, 1868

Family of Charles Darwin

Howard Ricketts, Ltd., London, 1976

Another print of this image: 

Cox 988

Sylvia Wolf, Julia Margaret Cameron’s Women (Art Institute of Chicago and Yale University Press, 1998), p. 59, fig. 26

Grading this albumen print on a scale of 1 to 10 – a 10 being a print with deep brown dark tones and cream-toned highlights that retain all of their original detail – this print rates a high 8. The print has a lovely soft tonality that combines with the soft folds of the sitter's garment to create a stirring account of Cameron's subject. As is frequently the case with Cameron, the lack of deep dark tones in this print is not the result of fading; rather, the print's tonality itself is somewhat light overall, and the overall quality of this print is quite strong. It is essentially in excellent condition, and shows none of the yellowing or edge-fading seen frequently in Cameron's prints. When examined closely in raking light, several areas of original retouching can be seen here and there, most noticeably a linear area in the upper left quadrant. The mount is age-darkened and shows some light soiling and foxing. Cameron's tidy ink notations and signature are still quite robust. Her bold penciled title is written directly below the center of the image. Just outside the gilt-ruling, which is still bright, are faint graphite lines. Tape remains are present in the top and bottom portions of the front of the mount and on the lateral edges of the reverse.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

In Julia Margaret Cameron: The Complete Photographs, Julian Cox locates only one other print of this image, in the collection of the Victor Hugo Museum, Paris. 

This portrait of Kate Keown is one of a number of images in Cameron’s oeuvre that portray the tragic historical figure, Beatrice Cenci (1577-99), an Italian noblewoman publicly beheaded for the murder of her tyrannical and abusive father.  Cenci quickly became, in the popular mind, a martyr, and her story served a subject for art and literature though the subsequent centuries, inspiring artists and writers as diverse as Percy Bysshe Shelley, Alexandre Dumas, and Antonin Artaud, among many, many others.   Cameron was drawn to Cenci’s story, and portrayed her in photographs using two different models: May Prinsep, in a series dating to 1866 (Cox 406-12), and the younger Kate Keown in 1868 (Cox 988-89).