Marie Spartali 1868

This photograph of Marie Spartali was made by Julia Margaret Cameron in England in the latter half of the 19th century. Cameron's soft-focus style lends a dreamlike quality to the image and elevates her sitter. Marie Spartali was herself an artist, one of a group of women associated with the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Cameron's photograph captures the aesthetic interests of this artistic circle, with its themes of beauty, nostalgia, and romance. The photograph also reflects the burgeoning market for art photography in Victorian England, and the increasing professionalisation of women artists at this time. Spartali belonged to the upper-middle classes whose wealth afforded the leisure time for women to engage in artistic activity. The image creates meaning through visual codes, cultural references, and historical associations. By researching the biographies of both photographer and sitter, and the artistic movement to which they belonged, we can better understand the social and cultural context in which this photograph was made, and the role it played in shaping artistic tastes and trends.