ARTHURIAN ART

CAMERON, JULIA MARGARET (1815-1879)

   Julia Margaret Cameron was born in Calcutta, educated in Paris, and married Charles Hay Cameron, a wealthy tea estate owner in India. He was 20 years her senior, and when he retired in 1838, they went to live in London, becoming part of the artistic community. Tennyson was a noted friend of the Camerons.
   In 1860, the Camerons bought two adjacent houses at Freshwater Bay on the Isle of Wight near Tennyson's estate, and converted them into one large residence by adding a central Gothic tower. It is during her residence there in 1863 that she took up photography. It is for her pre-Raphaelite subject matter that she graces these Arthurian artists pages. She was then 48 years old. Her Pre-Raphaelite subjects included Arthurian illustrations for Idylls of the King (1874), and of other poems by Tennyson, Browning, Kingsley, and Shakespeare.  She also produced some of the best photographic portraits of famous people of her day including Tennyson, Browning, Richard Burton, Herschel, and Darwin. She is also well known for her ideal portraits of children as well as  cherubs and angels with goose wings.
   In 1875, she returned with her husband to Ceylon and the family tea plantation. She died there in 1879.

King Arthur
Vivien and Merlin
Vivien and Merlin
The Little Novice and the Queen
Elaine
Elaine in the Barge
The Corpse of Elaine in the Palace of King Arthur
Gareth and Lynette
Enid
The Parting of Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere
Sir Galahad and the Nun
King Arthur wounded lying in a barge