id: 151840 accession number: 1984.166 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1984.166 updated: 2024-10-04 11:02:54.921000 Queen of the May, 1875. Julia Margaret Cameron (British, 1815–1879). Albumen print from wet collodion negative; image: 34.9 x 26.6 cm (13 3/4 x 10 1/2 in.); matted: 66 x 55.9 cm (26 x 22 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1984.166 title: Queen of the May title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1875 creation date earliest: 1875 creation date latest: 1875 current location: creditline: John L. Severance Fund copyright: --- culture: England, 19th century technique: albumen print from wet collodion negative department: Photography collection: Photography type: Photograph find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Julia Margaret Cameron (British, 1815–1879) - artist Julia Margaret Cameron British, 1815-1879 Born in Calcutta to a French mother and an English father employed by the East India Company, Julia Margaret Cameron was a key figure in the development of photography both in Britain and abroad. She was sent, under the care of her grandmother, to France for her education. Marriage to jurist Charles Hay Cameron took her back to India in 1838, and to England in 1848, where in 1860 the family finally settled on the Isle of Wight. Three years later Cameron received her first camera, a gift from her daughter, as a way to pass the time while her husband was away on an extended trip to Ceylon. For the next 15 years, Cameron's passion for photography, and her fortunate position among Britain's cultural elite, allowed her to produce a series of portraits, allegories, and illustrations that are among the most admired and influential of photographic images. Frequently marked by a loose, soft style, her portraits of well-known figures, such as Sir John Herschel, Thomas Carlyle, and Ellen Terry, reveal her subject's character in an unusually forceful manner. Her allegories and tableaux often include neighbors and friends like Lord Tennyson and her artistic mentor, the Pre-Raphaelite painter G. F. Watts. In 1874 she illustrated Tennyson's popular long poem Idylls of the King. In 1875, after the death of her daughter, Cameron returned to Ceylon with her husband, joining their five sons. There she continued to photograph until her death in 1879. A later generation was introduced to Cameron's work by Alfred Stieglitz, who reproduced a selection from it in Camera Work. T.W.F. --- measurements: Image: 34.9 x 26.6 cm (13 3/4 x 10 1/2 in.); Matted: 66 x 55.9 cm (26 x 22 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Written in brown ink on recto: "From Life Registered Photograph Copyright Julia Margaret Cameron Freshwater, May 1875 / 'For I'm [underlined] to be the Queen O the May-Mother' / 'I'm to be Queen O' 'the May'/ For the beloved Invalid."; in pencil on verso: "oak & gilt"; "248 [circled]"; "-79-1749" translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Year in Review for 1984 opening date: 1985-04-03T05:00:00 Year in Review for 1984. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 3-May 5, 1985). title: Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 1996-11-24T05:00:00 Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 24, 1996-February 2, 1997). title: Cheating Death: Portrait Photography’s First Half Century opening date: 2016-10-22T04:00:00 Cheating Death: Portrait Photography’s First Half Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 22, 2016-February 5, 2017). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Cleveland Museum of Art, and Tom E. Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. [Cleveland, OH]: The Museum, 1996. page number: p. 28-29 url: Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1984." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 72, no. 2 (1985): 163-207. page number: p. 201, no. 35 url: www.jstor.org/stable/25159897 --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1984.166/1984.166_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1984.166/1984.166_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1984.166/1984.166_full.tif