The photographs:
Idylls and Fancy Subjects
Julia Margaret CAMERON
British, 1815–79
Hypatia, 1867
albumen silver photograph
24.3 x 29.5 cm
The Wilson Centre for Photography
87:3229
Hypatia was a brilliant lecturer on Neoplatonist philosophy in 5th century
Alexandria and also promoted 'classical polytheism', or the belief in many
deities. She was killed for her alleged heresy by a group of Christians.
Cameron's knowledge of this story probably came from the novelist Charles
Kingsley's story Hypatia or New Foes with Old Faces that was published in
Fraser's Magazine in 1851, and as a novel two years later. Cameron's model is
Mary Spartali.
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