It's Never Too Late to Start

Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879) was 48 years old when she was given her first camera as a Christmas present. Today, she is known as one of the defining artists of early photography.

The Parting of Lancelot and Guinevere, Julia Margaret Cameron ca. 1874. Via the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

I first came across the above photograph when I was writing the essay, “The Real St. Valentine.” In it, I explored how Valentine’s Day became associated with romance during the late medieval period, and I was looking for artworks depicting chivalric romances to accompany the piece. This 150-year-old photograph, The Parting of Lancelot and Guinevere by Julia Margaret Cameron (1874), immediately stood out to me, as did the story that accompanied it on the Metropolitan Museum’s website:

In 1874 Tennyson asked Cameron to make photographic illustrations for a new edition of his Idylls of the King, a recasting of the Arthurian legends. Responding that both knew that ‘it is immortality to me to be bound up with you,’ Cameron willingly accepted the assignment. Costuming family and friends, she made some 245 exposures to arrive at the handful she wanted for the book. Ultimately—and predict…