King Lear Alotting His Kingdom to His Three Daughters

Julia Margaret Cameron

1872 · Albumen silver print from glass negative · Photographs

The three Liddell sisters—Lorina, Elizabeth, and Alice—posed with the photographer’s husband playing the tragically deceived King Lear in one of Cameron’s few Shakespearean compositions. Goneril and Regan whisper false flattery in the aging king’s ear while the truly devoted but disinherited Cordelia—here unadorned and dressed in white—stands before him, an embodiment of disillusioned innocence.

Artist

Julia Margaret Cameron

Date

1872

Medium

Albumen silver print from glass negative

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Bequest of Maurice B. Sendak, 2012