JULIA MARGARET CAMERON (1815-1879)

This model is Mrs Keene, favoured by Mrs Cameron for depictions of characters inspired from literature. Cameron focuses on Cassiopeia's status as the vain queen in Greek mythology, who boasted about her unrivalled beauty. The image is tight cropped to the subject's head, creating a powerful presence.

Compare: Malcolm Daniel, 'Inventing a New Art early Photographs from the Rubel Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art', The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New York, Spring 1999, p. 39, where the author notes 'Mrs Cameron's extraordinary ability to imbue her phtographs with a powerful spiritual content...a mirror of the Victorian soul'.