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JULIA MARGARET CAMERON, (British, 1815-1879), THE NESTLING ANGEL, carbon print, later mounted on ...
Currency:USD
Category:Everything Else / Other
Start Price:NA
Estimated At:6,000.00 - 8,000.00 USD
NOT SOLD (BIDDING OVER)
0.00USD+ applicable fees & taxes.
This item WAS NOT SOLD. Auction date was 2003 Apr 24 @ 19:00UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT
JULIA MARGARET CAMERON
(British, 1815-1879)
THE NESTLING ANGEL
carbon print
later mounted on board
137/8 x 111/8 in. (35.2 x 28.3 cm)
mount: 1515/16 x 14 in. (40.5 x 35.6 cm)
1870
ESTIMATE: $6,000-8,000
<p>PROVENANCE
Private Collection
<p>LITERATURE
Amanda Hopkinson, JULIA MARGARET CAMERON, London, Virago Press, 1986, pl. 40 (illustrated)
Jeremy Howard, WHISPER OF THE MUSE: THE WORLD OF JULIA MARGARET CAMERON, London, P & D Colnaghi & Co., 1990, p. 39, pl. 10 (illustrated)
Julia Margaret Cameron produced allegorical images of children dressed as angels and cupids in order to convey the innocence and purity of childhood, a theme that resonated throughout Victorian society. Cameron's models were posed in her studio, known as the Glass House, which allowed full natural light but lacked insulation and could render posing uncomfortable. Cameron supposedly bribed the local children to sit for her with candy, coins and the enticement of playing dress-up. She also relied on young members of her family for models.
This child is most likely Cameron's great-niece, Rachel Gurney, who, along with her sister Laura, was featured in a series depicting the two girls dressed as angels. Laura Gurney, later Laura Troubridge, reflected on her experiences as a model for her great-aunt. "We, Rachel and I, were pressed into the service of the camera. Our roles were no less than those of two of the angels of the Nativity, and to sustain them we were scantily clad, and each had a pair of heavy swan's wings fastened to her narrow shoulders, while Aunt Julia, with ungentle hand, tousled our hair to get rid of its prim nursery look. No wonder those old photographs of us, leaning over imaginary ramparts of heaven, look anxious and wistful. This is how we felt, for we never knew what Aunt Julia was going to do next, nor did anyone else" (MEMORIES AND REFLECTIONS, London, Heinemann, 1925, p. 34). The present work, which features tousled hair, a wistful pout and carefully arranged swan wings, certainly corroborates Troubridge's memory.
By invoking funerary sculpture, "The 'Nestling Angel' was the sentimental Victorian equivalent of the innumerable little shrines devoted to the departed infants in Catholic countries. But the continental custom of attaching a photograph of the deceased child to the grave was considered idolatrous to the British and, paradoxically, realistic images gave way to supposedly heavenly ones" (Hopkinson, note to plate 40). This image, addressing the fragility of Victorian infancy and the high childhood mortality rate of the period, perhaps references the many children who died untimely deaths.
Auction Location:
United States
Previewing Details:
Wednesday April 16 - Sunday April 23
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