Henry Taylor. Author of "Philip Van Artevelde"
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
Image: 9 7/16 × 7 9/16 in. (24 × 19.2 cm) Sheet: 9 7/16 × 7 9/16 in. (24 × 19.2 cm) Mount: 17 13/16 in. × 13 in. (45.2 × 33 cm)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1941
Accession Number
41.21.23
Tags
Art Historical Context
In 1864, pioneering photographer Julia Margaret Cameron captured this evocative portrait of Henry Taylor, esteemed English poet and historian best known for his epic drama *Philip van Artevelde* (1834). Taylor, a prominent literary figure and friend to luminaries like Alfred Lord Tennyson, embodies the intellectual elite of Victorian Britain. Cameron, who took up photography at age 48, transformed her Isle of Wight home into a studio, inviting such notables for sessions that blended artistry with celebrity. Printed as an albumen silver print from a glass negative—a cutting-edge wet-collodion ...
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...