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The photographs:
Madonnas and Angelic Children
Julia Margaret CAMERON
British, 1815–79
The dream, 1869
albumen silver photograph
24.0 x 30.5 cm
The Wilson Centre for Photography
97:5636
On other versions of this image Cameron inscribed, 'Methought I saw my
late espoused saint'. This is a reference to the first line of the sonnet On
his Deceased Wife (c. 1865) written by the poet John Milton after his wife's
death:
"Methought I saw my late espoused saint
Brought to me like Alcestis, from the grave,
[ ... ]
And such as yet once more I trust to have
Full sight of her in Heaven without restraint,
Came vested all in white, pure as her mind;
Her face was veil'd, yet to my fancied sight
Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shin'd
So clear, as in no face with more delight
But Oh! As to embrace me she inclin'd
I wak'd, she fled, and day brought back my night"
Mary Hillier is the sitter in this study. She is draped and veiled in white with
lilies of the valley held to her chest. The figure represents the apparition
of Milton's deceased wife as she appeared to him dressed in shining white.
This print is signed, titled and dated 'April 1869' in Cameron's hand on the
original mount. It is also inscribed 'Quite Divine' and signed by the
painter, G. F. Watts.
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