The Mountain Nymph Sweet Liberty

1866

Medium

Albumen silver print

Dimensions

36.2 × 28.3 cm

Status

In Museum Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-765774

> On February 22, 1866, Julia Margaret Cameron wrote enthusiastically to Sir John Herschel: “I have just been engaged in that which Mr. Watts has always been urging me to do, A Series of Life sized heads—they are not only from the Life, but to the Life, and startle the eye with wonder and delight.” In the spring Cameron acquired a larger camera, one that used twelve-by-fifteen-inch glass plates and was fitted with a Rapid Rectilinear lens, recently introduced by John Henry Dallmeyer. With this apparatus she began a series of monumental heads. > > In *The Mountain Nymph Sweet Liberty* the light is cast evenly across the bust, with the left side of the face thrown into shadow. This creates the illusion of relief and imparts a plastic, sculptural effect. The picture is an inspired visual interpretation of John Milton’s evocation of the mountain nymph in his 1631-32 poem *L’Allegro*: > > > > *Come, and trip it as you go, > > On the light fantastic toe; > > And in thy right hand lead with thee > > The mountain nymph, sweet Liberty.* > > > > Cameron also created at least two other portraits of this model, but they lack the power and directness of this image. Whi…