Vivien and Merlin
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
30.4 x 25.3 cm (11 15/16 x 9 15/16 in. )
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
David Hunter McAlpin Fund, 1952
Accession Number
52.524.3.5
Tags
Art Historical Context
Julia Margaret Cameron's *Vivien and Merlin*1874) captures a dramatic moment from Alfred Lord Tennyson's Arthurian epic *Idylls of the King*, where the enchantress Vivien ensnares the wizard Merlin with her seductive spell. This albumen silver print from a negative exemplifies Cameron's signature style as a pioneering Victorian photographer. Working on the Isle of Wight, she transformed photography into poetic tableaux, often drawing on literary and mythological themes to elevate the medium beyond mere documentation. The albumen process, using egg whites to bind light-sensitive silver salts o...
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...