Tennyson's long career witnessed a huge expansion in popular interest in the visual arts, encouraged by recently founded public museums and the increasing availability and affordability of prints and illustrated books. New technologies had an impact on how Tennyson's work was visualized. He became famous just at the point that photography was becoming widespread and his poetry was the subject of several pioneering photographic projects. Photography emerged strongly in the 1850s and had strong affinities with the Pre-Raphaelites, particularly in its ability to record sharp detail. Henry Peach Robinson's earlier work was influenced by his admiration for the Pre-Raphaelites, while Julia Margaret Cameron became a close friend of the Tennyson family and made a series of photographs interpreting Tennyson's poetry in the 1860s and 1870s.
Tennyson became famous not just for his work but for his appearance and personality, communicated by an intrusive popular press. His resonse to fame was mixed: he sat for many portraits and earned much more than any of his fellow poets but resented invasions into his privacy.
The photograph above was included in the publication Men and Women of the Day, October 1888. It is attributed to Barraud Photographers, 1888.
Henry Peach Robinson The Lady of Shalott 1860/61.
Toned Albumen print from two negatives.
By combining two negatives into one print Henry Peach Robinson was able to show both 'The Lady' and the riverbank behind her in sharp focus, thus echoing the Pre-Raphaelite style. The exhibited print was Robinsons own print of the image, exhibited in 1861.
The Rosebud Garden of Girls, Julia Margaret Cameron, 1868. Albumen Print
'Maud' Inspired one of Cameron's most Pre- Raphaelite images. The models were the sisters Nelly, Christine, Mary (afterwards the second wife of the artist G F Watts) and Ethel Fraser-Tyler.
The two photographs above are of Harrington House in Lincolnshire where Tennyson based his poem 'Maud'.
Roger Fenton The Valley of the Shadow of Death 1854
Salted Paper print
In 1854 the printseller and publisher comissioned Roger Fento to make an official photographic record of the Crimean War. He was the first Briton to act in this capacity. This haunting image was singled out by many as particularly effective when it was exhibited in England in 1855 and 1856.
I found this exhibition fascinating for a variety of reasons. Firstly I enjoyed being able to look closely at original Vitorian photographs taken by noted photographers of the time. This is always a privilege. I also have somewhat of an affinity for Tennyson as I was brought up in 'Tennyson country' and know it well. One of my favourite poems, although not featured in this exhibition, is The Brook and it has long been a plan in the back of my mind to illustrate it both with wildlife and landscape photographs from the actual brook: the River Steeping - a project waiting in the wings!
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