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Julia and Ethel Arnold
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Best known as the author of <em>Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,</em> mathematician, lecturer, and church deacon Charles Dodgson was an avid amateur photographer. His subjects were wide ranging but he has become best known for his portraits of children, which avoid the formal, formulaic quality of studio portraiture of the time. Julia was 10 and Ethel was 6 when this photo was taken in Dodgson’s rooftop studio at Christ Church College, Oxford, on June 15, 1872. Ethel reminisced 57 years later that the times spent with Dodgson were “oases of brightness in a somewhat gray and melancholy childhood.” She also remembered that “for a nervous child . . . to keep still for forty-five seconds at a time was no mean ordeal.”
| Artist / Maker | Lewis Carroll |
|---|---|
| Date | 1872 |
| Culture / Origin | England, 19th century |
| Medium | albumen print from wet collodion negative |
| Dimensions | Image: 14.9 x 12.5 cm (5 7/8 x 4 15/16 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 40.6 cm (20 x 16 in.) |
| Department | Photography |
| Type | Photograph |
About the Artist
Lewis Carroll (Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) British, 1832-1898 Known primarily as the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1872), the enigmatic Lewis Carroll was also a mathematician, poet, novelist, and photographer. A lifelong teacher and writer of children's books, it is perhaps no surprise to find the photography of children his principal focus. Born in Daresbury, Cheshire, and educated at Rugby and Oxford, Carroll lectured in mathematics for 25 years at the prestigious Christ Church… Full biography →
Provenance & Source
Image & data: Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0 / Public Domain.
Condition
A detailed condition report and high-resolution photography are available from our specialists in advance of the sale.
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