King Arthur 1874

Julia Margaret Cameron made this albumen silver print of "King Arthur" sometime in the 1870s. Here we see the legendary British leader represented through a soft-focus, theatrical lens. Cameron's choice of subject reveals a Victorian fascination with medieval romance, popularized through literature and the Pre-Raphaelite artistic movement. Yet, as a female photographer, Cameron was working within a male-dominated art world. Her experimental techniques challenged the conventions of portraiture established by the Royal Photographic Society. The image creates meaning through cultural references and historical associations. Arthur is presented with a faux medieval helmet, chainmail, and a cross-handled sword. The soft focus gives the image an ethereal quality that further separates the photograph from the cold, hard reality. Understanding this work involves researching the social history of Victorian England and studying the institutional history of photography as an emerging art form. Through such resources, we can interpret art not as timeless objects but as products of their social context.