Henry Taylor
October 10, 1867
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Lucy Chauncey, in memory of her father, Henry Chauncey, 1935
Accession Number
35.85.1
Tags
Art Historical Context
This striking portrait of Henry Taylor, captured on October 10, 1867, exemplifies Julia Margaret Cameron’s distinctive approach to early photography. A leading Victorian-era photographer, Cameron often turned her lens toward prominent literary and artistic figures of her day. Working with an albumen silver print from a glass negative, she favored close-up compositions and soft focus to reveal character and inner life rather than crisp detail. Cameron’s technique—slightly blurring the image and using dramatic natural light—created an almost painterly effect that set her work apart from the sha...
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...