3-044-456 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Venus Chiding Cupid and Removing His Wings, 1872. Pioneering British photographer Julia Margaret Cameron is considered to be one of the most important portraitists of the 19th century. She took up photography at the age of 48, after her daughter gave her a camera as a present. Cameron was surrounded by children and identified strongly with her role as a mother. Children made natural subjects for her work because they were readily available, and she could easily cajole them into participation. She often cast them as angels, viewing the young as closer to God due to their proximity in years from birth. Here Cameron posed a maternal Venus, played by her maid Mary Hillier, attending to a sleepy cupid.