The photographs:
Madonnas and Angelic Children
Julia Margaret CAMERON
British, 1815–79
Portrait of Kate Keown, 1866
albumen silver photograph
29.0 x 29.0 cm
The Wilson Centre for Photography
93:4922
This portrait has been taken with astounding directness, an effect that is
emphasised by the circular vignette shape. The head seems almost
three-dimensional and thrusts forward. The child has moved slightly during
the long exposure and her blurred appearance creates the sensation of
movement. As a result Kate seems startlingly alive, as if she has just turned
her head to face us.
When Cameron photographed children, she idealised them
as she did many of her women subjects. Most of her portrait subjects are
children from Cameron's hometown of Freshwater. Kate, Elizabeth, and Alice
Keown were the daughters of Thomas Keown a gunner in the artillery stationed
at the fort on the Isle of Wight.
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