“Sir Galahad and the Pale Nun” by Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-79)

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Sir Galahad and the Pale Nun

Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-79)

1874

Albumen print

13 5/8 x 10 7/8 in. (34.61 x 27.62 cm) (image)17 1/16 x 12 15/16 in. (43.34 x 32.86 cm) (mount)35.9 x 28 cm (14 1/8 x 11 in.)

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Accession Number: 78.5.3

Credit line: Paul Schmidtt Fund

This is one of Cameron's photographs for Tennyson's new edition of Idylls of the King, a selection of which she issued in a deluxe edition. [Click on the image to enlarge it, and mouse over the text for links. Commentary continues below.]

Here, Cameron realises the solemn moment in Tennyson's "The Holy Grail" when the nun puts around the young knight a sword-belt which bestows magic powers upon him. As Jeff Rosen points out, Sir Galahad had become "an emblem of national sacrifice" (see Rosen 107-8) in the colonial cause.

Links to Related Material

Image download, text and formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee, with thanks to the MIA. The image is identified on the museum's site as being in the public domain.

Bibliography

Rosen, Jeff. Julia Margaret Cameron. The Colonial Shadows of Victorian Photography. . London: Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 2024. [Review by Pamela Gerrish Nunn]

Sir Galahad and the Pale Nun. The Minneapolis Institute of Art. 10 September 2024.

Created 10 September 2024