Robert Browning
1865, printed c. 1893
Medium
Photogravure, plate 9 from the album "Lord Tennyson and his Friends" (1893)
Dimensions
Image: 24.8 × 19.4 cm (9 13/16 × 7 11/16 in.); Album page: 45.7 × 37.1 cm (18 × 14 5/8 in.)
Classification
photogravure
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
136867
Art Historical Context
This striking photogravure captures the Victorian poet Robert Browning in a contemplative pose, created by Julia Margaret Cameron in 1865 and later reproduced around 1893 as plate 9 in the album "Lord Tennyson and his Friends." Cameron, a pioneering figure in early photography, often turned her lens toward the literary and artistic luminaries of her era, forging intimate connections between image-making and the cultural circles of 19th-century Britain. The album's focus on Alfred Lord Tennyson and his associates underscores the close-knit world of Victorian intellectuals, where poets and photo...
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...