Thought I had a busy morning, just getting your book finally off to the printers- and then, guess what?
Good old Dodgson has raised another question for me that may shed some light on Julia Margaret Cameron actually being an active Photographer even before she admitted to it in 1864.
It happened like this...
One day over the Easter holidays, a rather striking looking Lady walked into Dimbola asking about a photograph that she had lent to the Museum for display a year earlier. I knew the picture well, as it is one of my favourites. The original is of course locked away- but we got thinking about planning ahead with the Collections Committee- blah, blah..
Anyhow, I was quite struck by this lovely lady's beautiful eyes, and asked her all about the picture. She is a descendent of Tennyson- and I can now see the similarity in her appearance- there was a trace of Emily Tennyson's eyes and she had a beautiful bone structure. We got chatting, and I promised to find out more about the picture and keep in touch, and let her know when we planned to give it an airing. So we swapped numbers and have spoken since.
However, do you remember when I told you, that Dodgson got 'sent home for dinner' by Julia, and how unusual I found this, because Julia had no 'Class Issues' as such- she married Maids with Lords and photographed all together on a daily basis. And it didn't quite stand up for me that Dodgson's possibly irritating manner kept him from table either. Julia regularly argued with people and still entertained them time and again.
BUT, Emily- if possibly she had 'paid' Dodgson to teach her photography- then she might just see him as 'tradesman' which would have excluded him from table- he could appear before or after but not 'at'.
My hypothesis of course, and that is all. But- curiouser and curiouser, something else has come to light, which may shed some light on what Colin Ford said to me as we left the P.R.B Show last October. He said that if I could find some more evidence of her photographing earlier than the accepted given date by herself- then we're onto something.
Well Em, we might have done! This photograph that was lent by our lovely lady.
I was at the Bookroom yesterday- and had nothing to read. Yes, I know Em, that is silly- but it was because the book I was reading I had left at home, and couldn't get interested in anything else.
So, eventually I picked up a random book on Queen Victoria's relationship with Tennyson. I'm not hugely into the Royals, but thought I'd give it a whirl. Well Em, inside this book was the photograph that was lent to Dimbola, very similar to the Reijlander famous family shot, BUT something was different...
Firstly, it had been attributed to Julia Margaret Cameron ( possibly a mistake I thought ) but then the attributor was a Tennyson (! )
Then I looked closer- it was different- it was out of focus, and from a different angle. I phoned my new Tennyson friend this morning- yes, that is the shot she lent...
Ok, Granny's a nerd- but Em, this photo could not have been taken by the same camera- there wasn't time with the set-up that presented. Plus, it is taken from a different angle! And, significantly, Julia did rather go in for the 'out of focus' vibe. Oerr Em, maybe she did start photographing earlier than we all thought previously. Mr Ford could help here, will find out and tell you.
Maybe, JMC set up an early Victorian paparazzi style shoot- she was rather persuasive. Reijlander we know was there, and maybe our Jules. I wonder if any other pioneering photographers were there too Em?
Oh, it is fun investigating dead people...
Reijlander's is on the right- and the one on the left attributed to JMC, in 1863. See what I mean?
Your ever-loving Grand-mother, GiGi xxx
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