A portrait of Thomas Carlyle, 1795–1881, Scot essayist and historian
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Carlyle

Cameron, Julia Margaret

1913, January

Artwork Information

  • Title:

    Carlyle

  • Artist:

    Cameron, Julia Margaret

  • Artist Bio:

    British, 1815–1879

  • Date:

    1913, January

  • Medium:

    Photogravure

  • Dimensions:

    8 1/2 x 6 1/8 inches

  • Credit Line:

    Wichita Art Museum, Gift of Donna R. Bailey and Cornelia R. Yohr in memory of Grace Voss Ripley

  • Object Number:

    2007.29.3

  • Display:

    Not Currently on Display

About the Artwork

Pioneer photographer Julia Margaret Cameron photographed many eminent intellectuals who belonged to her circle of family and friends. Historian Thomas Carlyle—famous for writing On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History—sat for Cameron only once, and allowed her to take only two photographs: this profile view and a frontal portrait. Despite this limit on her images, Cameron believed he had successfully captured him in the look of a Renaissance hero. In fact, she inscribed some prints of this image with the caption: “Carlyle like a rough block of Michelangelo’s sculpture.” Cameron’s photograph succeeds in presenting her subject as a thoughtful intellectual and a notable figure.