Elaine the Lily - Maid of Astolat
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
34.3 x 28.4 cm (13 1/2 x 11 3/16 in. )
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
David Hunter McAlpin Fund, 1952
Accession Number
52.524.3.6
Tags
Art Historical Context
In Julia Margaret Cameron's evocative 1874 photograph *Elaine the Lily - of Astolat*, a young woman gazes wistfully outward, embodying the tragic heroine from Alfred Lord Tennyson's Arthur epic *Idylls of the King*. Cameron, a trailblazing Victorian photographer, drew inspiration from literature and mythology, transforming her Isle of Wight studio into a stage for poetic tableaux. This albumen silver print from a glass negative captures the model's flowing hair and draped costume with a dreamlike intimacy, evoking Elaine's unrequited love for Lancelot. Cameron pioneered soft-focus techniques ...
About the Artist
Julia Margaret Cameron · 1815–1879
Julia Margaret Cameron (1815–1879), born Julia Margaret Pattle in Calcutta, India, emerged as one of the 19th century's most innovative photographers despite beginning her career at age 48. The daughter of East India Company official James Pattle and French aristocrat Adeline de l'Etang, she was educated in France from 1818 to 1834 alongside her six surviving sisters, renowned for their beauty and...