Artwork Page for Queen of the May

Details / Information for Queen of the May

Queen of the May

1875

Julia Margaret Cameron

(British, 1815–1879)
Culture
England, 19th century
Medium
albumen print from wet collodion negative
Measurements
Image: 34.9 x 26.6 cm (13 3/4 x 10 1/2 in.); Matted: 66 x 55.9 cm (26 x 22 in.)
Credit Line
John L. Severance Fund 1984.166
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.
Location
Not on view
Print

Description

A major figure in the development of British photography, Cameron elevated the portrait to new artistic heights. She never opened a commercial studio or accepted commissions, but she was one of the first photographers to sell her photographs through a fine art gallery. Friends, neighbors, family, and servants were cajoled into modeling for portraits as themselves and as allegorical figures from history, religion, mythology, and literature. Little is known about Emily Peacock, who posed here as the protagonist in The May Queen by Britain’s poet laureate Alfred Tennyson. Typically crowned with flowers, the May Queen is selected as part of the celebrations on May 1, a traditional spring holiday in many cultures in the Northern Hemisphere.
A vertical, warm-toned albumen print depicts a woman with light skin tone and long, wavy hair, her head tilted toward our left while looking upward. Behind her head, a wide-brimmed hat creates a halo-like shape. She wears a light-colored, ruffled shirt cinched at the waist with a dark belt. Her hand on our right holds a circular wreath of small flowers against her chest. Her face is speckled with freckles.

Queen of the May

1875

Julia Margaret Cameron

(British, 1815–1879)
England, 19th century

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