Henry Taylor

While Julia Margaret Cameron’s grand monumental portraits attracted much positive attention at exhibitions and in fine art circles, in the photographic press there were still some commentators who criticized the inadequacy of her technique. In the Photographic Journal review of the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1867, Cameron’s contributions received a mixed response: “This lady has produced a number of fine studies; but her work is unequal, and in most cases the delineation of her heads is too indefinite. Her process is stated to be the result of an accident. . . . The lens could not do what the lady wanted it to do, and produced an image with a blurred delineation, so she strives for the blurred effect, and in many cases succeeds in turning out a head with a good deal of power in it, and with a softness of outline which is in singular contrast to the ordinary style of photographs.

Cameron went to considerable lengths to declare that her pictures were the work of an artist. This portrait of the poet and playwright Sir Henry Taylor (1800-1886) is inscribed “not enlarged” to make it clear that the work is a study “from life,” achieved by direct contact printing from a negative. His immense head, the crown flooded with light, is propped up by his right hand, a practical measure useful during a long exposure. This gesture also reveals the ease and familiarity that came with his close friendship with Cameron.

A large part of the picture is taken up by Taylor’s long flowing beard, an aspect of his appearance that he described in his Autobiography: “There is a feature of my life, conspicuous in these photographs, which dates from this period and the importance of which be it far from me to underrate. This is my beard . . . to be developed into a phenomenon presented by Mrs. Cameron in multiform impersonations.” The Getty Museum’s collection includes a number of portraits of Taylor by Cameron (see 84.XZ.186.5, 84.XZ.186.12, 84.XZ.186.38, 84.XM.349.1, 85.XM.129.1, 86.XM.636.3).

Julian Cox. Julia Margaret Cameron, In Focus: From the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1996), 66. ©1996 The J. Paul Getty Museum.