LADY CLEMENTINA HAWARDEN (1822–1865)

Lady Clementina Hawarden, born in 1822, grew up in Cumbernaud, near Glasgow, in Scotland. In addition to mothering ten children, she was also an avid photographer, known for the portraits of her children, like this present study. As seen, Hawarden relied on natural light, and featured carefully chosen props and clothing that were characteristic of upper-class Victorian culture, all staged within the elegant interior of her South Kensington studio. Following her sudden, premature death at the age of 42, the photographer Oscar Gustave Rejlander wrote the following in an obituary for Lady Hawarden:

She worked honestly, in a good comprehensible style. She aimed at elegant and if possible, idealised truth... She is a loss to photography, for she would have progressed. She is a loss to many many friends (British Journal of Photography, January 27, 1865).