Beschreibung:

Queen Esther fainting before King Ahasuerus. See apocryphal Bible, [copyright 11 November 1865], albumen print, minor surface scratches and marks, 'From Life Julia Margaret Cameron' inscribed in ink in a usual unidentified hand on original mount beneath image, titled by Cameron in ink in her own larger hand beneath and within gilt rule border, mount soiled and partly damp-stained with evidence of biopredation, image: 331 x 280 mm (13 x 11 ins), mount: 472 x 399 mm (18.5 x 15.75 ins) 'In late 1865, Julia Margaret Cameron began using a larger camera which held a 15 x 12 inch glass negative, rather than the 12 x 10 inch negative of her first camera... This is one of Cameron's more theatrical depictions of a biblical subject. It shows the moment when Queen Esther faints after begging King Ahasuerus to spare the Jews he has sentenced to death. The makeshift costumes, backdrop and props - including the fireplace poker that serves as a sceptre - evoke the amateur theatricals and tableaux vivants that were popular in Victorian Britain' (V&A online). The sitters for this photograph were Henry Taylor Mary Ryan and Mary Kellaway. The striations visible at the top of the image are the result of printing from a damaged negative, an aspect of her working method that is well documented with this photograph cited as one such example in Cox and Ford. However, there are prints made from this negative, including miniature ones, where the striations have been touched up to disappear. Cox and Ford, Julia Margaret Cameron The Complete Photographs (2003), 167. See back cover illustration. (1)