Overview

In 1874, the photographer Julia Margaret Cameron went to work on a series of photographic illustrations for Alfred Tennyson’s Arthurian series of poems, Idylls of the King. Cameron was neighbors with Tennyson on the Isle of Wight, and often enlisted him to sit for her. Cameron once complained, “I want to do a large photograph of Tennyson, and he objects! Says I make bags under his eyes.” In one picture, now one of the indelible images of the poet, Tennyson, outfitted in monastic robes, appears reflective, pious, and in need of a nap. Tennyson dubbed the photograph “The Dirty Monk.”

Installation Views