Illustrations to Tennyson's Idylls of the King, and Other Poems

Julia Margaret Cameron British, born India

Not on view

Here we see the photographer’s husband posed as Tennyson’s Merlin, the magician whose purity was the wellspring of his power, and an unidentified woman playing the harlot Vivien, who enchants him. Mr. Cameron stands before “the hollow oak” (carried in from Tennyson’s property), “lost to life and use, and name and fame.” The picture succeeds through the language of gesture: Vivien’s turning, pointing attitude (which Cameron aptly termed “piquante”) and Merlin’s dreamlike trance make this the image incarnate of the casting of a spell.

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