Florence / Study of St. John the Baptist

The model for this study of John the Baptist is Florence Fisher (1863-1920), Julia Margaret Cameron’s great-niece. She was the eldest child of Mrs. Herbert Fisher, one of Mia Jackson’s daughters.

The subject is partially clothed in a fringed blanket that doubles as the animal skin garment typically worn by the saint. Her expression is not altogether in keeping with the role that she has been called upon to perform; she does not seem to have been compliant with Cameron’s wishes. She is posed against a leafy background, which is sharply differentiated from her figure by virtue of Cameron’s close focus. The creeping vegetation, which is so often seen in the Pre-Raphaelite paintings of John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, is broadly suggestive of the dialogue between nature and humanity. It is designed to complement the “naturalness” of Florence performing the role of John the Baptist, even though she is a girl. The right arm across the chest is a gesture of self-protection, but one that also imparts an innocence and humility that Cameron tried to convey in her images of children.

Cameron also photographed Florence in a separate head and torso study in a style that echoes the portraits of Titian and Giorgione. She described it in the title of the work as “after the Manner of the Old Masters.” George Duckworth (1868-1934), the eldest son of Julia Jackson Duckworth (1846-1895) was called upon as well in 1872 to pose as John the Baptist, a choice that was in keeping with Cameron’s philosophy of using children as flexible components in her quest to create “high art.”

Julian Cox. Julia Margaret Cameron, In Focus: From the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1996), 86. ©1996 The J. Paul Getty Museum.