C. L. Dodgson - Illustrative Photographic Images
 

    
     Dyptych of Lorina Charlotte (b. 1849) and Alice Pleasance (b. 1852)  Liddell,
     daughters of Rev. Henry George Liddell, Dean, Christ Church, Oxford, taken
     in 1857 in the Deanery Garden at Christ Church, Oxford. Between 1856 and
    1860, Dodgson took 32 photographs of the Liddell children: Harry (b. 1847),
    Lorina, Alice, and Edith Mary (b. 1854), including 11 individual portraits, 6
    group portraits, and 13 individual or grouping genre or tableau images of the
    three sisters (two of which can be seen below). [#0195]
 

         
        Alice Maud Kitchin nee Taylor , wife of George
        William Kitchin, headmaster of Twyford School
        until 1861; then Censor at Christ Church and, after
        marrying, lecturer at various colleges in Oxford;
        then Dean of  Winchester and later Durham, with
        daughter Alexandra Rhoda (Xie), taken on 12 June
        1869 at Badcock's Yard, Oxford. Xie Kitchin was
        one of few child subjects Dodgson photographed
        continuously over an extended period of her childhood,
        in her case 22 sessions between 1869 (this image at
        age 5) and 1880 (age 15) and yielding 52 images -
        17 standard portraits and 35 tableau images (one of
        which can be seen below). [#1676]
 

        
        Tableau of Flora Rankin (no family history) as Queen of the May,
        following Tennyson's The May Queen (1833) from Anglo-Saxon folklore,
        with Irene (b. 1857) and Mary (b. 1853) MacDonald, daughters of
        George MacDonald, Congregationalist minister, novelist, and writer
        of fairy tales, taken during 25-31 July 1863 at Elm's Lodge, Hampstead,
        George MacDonald's London home. Dodgson was a close friend
        of the MacDonald family for many years, and took portraits and
        genre/tableau images of most members of the family, including George
        and his wife Louisa nee Powell and nine of their eleven children (see
        portrait of Irene MacDonald below). The May Queen motif was commonly
        used by artists and photographers, and multiple illustrated versions of
        Tennyson's May Queen were published after 1860. Dodgson and several
        other artistic photographers, such as O. G. Rejlander and Julia Margaret
        Cameron, photographed a number of adolescent girls and young women   
        costumed/framed in different attitudes as the May Queen. [#1019]

           
    Agnes Grace Weld, daughter of Charles Richard Weld,
    Assistant Secretary/Librarian to the Royal Society, and
    Anne Weld nee Sellwood, sister-in-law of A. L. Tennyson,
    taken on 18 August 1857 at Croft Rectory, Yorkshire, home
    of the Dodgson family between 1843 and 1868. In this
    same photographing session, Dodgson also took his more
    well-known tableau image of Agnes Weld as Little Red
    Riding Hood, after the popular children's tale, one of few
    images that Dodgson exhibited publicly. [#0273]



    
    Alfred, Lord Tennyson, poet laureate, taken on
    28 September 1857 at Monk Coniston Park, Ambleside,
    the Lake District home of industrialist James G. Marshall. 
    Dodgson was a great admirer of Tennyson's work and
    spent time as Tennyson's home at Farringford on the
    Isle of Wight. Several of Dodgson's tableau images
    illustrate Tennyson's The Beggar-Maid (1842), the folklore
    tale of the prince who falls in love with a beggar girl. Two
    of those tableau images can be seen below as well as a
    group (family) portrait of Tennyson taken at Ambleside.
    This image was an early formal seating of Tennyson, and
    both formal and informal poses were taken by O. G. Rejlander
    in the 1860s. Tennyson has formal portraits taken for cartes
    and cabinet cards in the 1860s and later, and famous
    formal and tableau portraits were taken of him by his friend
    Julia Margaret Cameron. This image was not favored
    by Tennyson and he asked Dodgson to destroy all of
    his copies so as to prevent their circulation. [#0306]
 

    
    John Everett Millais, Pre-Raphaelite artist/painter,
    his wife Euphemia (Effie) Gray Millais and daughters
    Effie Gray (b. 1858) and Mary Hunt (b. 1860), taken
    on 21 July 1865 at Millais' home at 7 Cromwell Place,
    London. [#1363]
 

       
    Victor Parnell (b. 1852), son of Sir Henry William
    Parnell (later Lord Congleton), by his second
    marriage to Caroline nee Dawson, taken on
    7 July 1864 at Lambeth Palace, home of Charles
    Longley, the Archbishop of Canterbury. [#1300]
 

       
        Alice Margaret Harington (b. 1854), the
        daughter of Rev. Richard Harington,
        Principal of Brasenose College, and his
        second wife Mary nee Paul, taken in 1859
        at Christ Church, Oxford. [#0549]
 

   
    Seven boys at Twyford School, taken during the summer of 1859 at
    Twyford School, Hampshire. Seven boys in the picture include
    Edwin H. Dodgson (center, b. 1846), younger brother of C. L.
    Dodgson and also James H. Dodgson (b. 1845), Charles Fosbery
    (b. 1846), John St. John Frederick (b. 1846), A. Gordon (n.d.),
    Albert Heathcote (b. 1848), and George Frederick Richardson
    (b. 1844). [#0393]
 

       
        Arthur Hughes, Pre-Raphaelite artist and illustrator,
        with daughter Agnes (b. 1859), taken on 12 October
        1863 at 12 Earl's Terrace, Kensington, the London home
        of George MacDonald. Hughes was one of the original
        group of artists gathered by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (below)
        in August of 1857 to design Arthurian murals for the new
        Oxford Union debating hall. He also illustrated works by
        George MacDonald and poet Christina Rossetti. [#1177]
 

            
            Alice Constance Westmacott (b. 1859), daughter of London
            artist and sculptor James Sherwood Westmacott, taken on
            9 July 1864 at Lambeth Palace, home of Charles Longley, the
            Archbishop of Canterbury. Dodgson subsequently photographed
            James Westmacott on 12 July 1864 at the same location. In the
            Dodgson diaries, the father of Alice Constance is misidentified
            as Richard Westmacott, also a London sculptor of Dodgson's
            acquaintance. [#1316]
 

    
        Margaret Gatey (center, family unknown) with Mary (b. 1849) and Charlotte
        (b. 1847) Webster, daughters of Rev. Alexander R. Webster, curate to C. L.
        Dodgson's father Archdeacon Dodgson at Croft; later curate at Crosthwaite,
        near Keswick, taken on 25 September 1857 at Crosthwaite. In the same session,
        Dodgson took a contrasting pair of portraits of Margaret Gatey, one in an
        adolescent pose with her hair down, and another in a more mature pose with
        her hair drawn back. [#0300]
 

           
            Rev. James Langton Clarke, Fellow, Durham and
            Curate at Whitburn, with son Robin (b. 1858), taken
            during 19-29 September 1864 at Whitburn, Tyne
            and Wear, the home of  Dodgson's Wilcox cousins.
            [#P076]
 

      
        Alfred, Lord Tennyson, son Hallam (b. 1852), James G. Marshall,
        industrialist and later MP from Leeds, his wife Mary nee Spring
        Rice, and their daughter Julia (b. 1845), taken on 28 September 1857
        at Monk Coniston Park, Ambleside, Marshall's home in the Lake
        District. An intricately posed portrait. [#0310]
 

               
            Irene MacDonald (b. 1857), daughter of George
            MacDonald (as above) , taken in the summer of
            1863 at Elm Lodge, Hampstead, MacDonald's
            London home. [#0996]
 

   
    Tableau of Alexandra Rhoda (Xie) Kitchin (b. 1864) entitled "King Cophetua's Bride"
    after Tennyson's The Beggar-Maid (1842); daughter of George William Kitchin
    (as above), taken on 15 July 1873 (?) at Christ Church, Oxford.  [#2157]
 

       
        Lorina Charlotte (b. 1849) and Alice Pleasance (b. 1852)  Liddell,
        daughters of Rev. Henry George Liddell (as above), taken in Chinese
        costume in the Deanery Garden at Christ Church in 1859.  A separate
        image of Lorina in Chinese costume was taken at the same session.
        [#0540]
 

      
        Rev. Charles Longley, Bishop of Ripon, and later
        Bishop of Durham and Archbishop of Canterbury,
        one of two portraits taken at Whitby in October 1856.
        Dodgson took numerous portraits of  Charles Longley
        at various points throughout his career. [#0127]
 

     
        Two poses of Annie Coates, daughter of William and Isabella Coates, he a local grocer,
        taken at the Croft Rectory, Yorkshire, in August 1857. On several occasions, Dodgson
        posed subjects in a pair in somewhat opposing attitudes, in this case one with hair
        cascading in burnley curls over her shoulders, a standard pose for adolescent girls,
        and the other with hair drawn back, a pose more befitting a more mature young woman. A
        similar contrasting pairing was taken of Margaret Gatey (as seen above). [#0287-0288]

       
        Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Pre-Raphaelite artist and
        poet, taken on 6 October 1863 at 6 Cheyne Walk,
        Chelsea. This was one of a number of images taken
        of Rossetti, his sister, poet Christina Rossetti, his
        brother art critic Michael Rossetti, his other sister
        Maria,and his mother, over a four-day period. Dodgson
        also photographed about a dozen of Rossetti's drawings,
        at the artist's request. One of the drawings photographed
        was of Rossetti's deceased wife Elizabeth Siddel, and
        Rossetti later ordered and circulated copies of Dodgson's
        photograph among several of his friends. [#1126]
 

 
Figure study of Anne (b. 1871) and Frances (b. 1872)
Henderson, daughters of Patrick Henderson, fellow,
chaplain tutor and proctor at Wadham College, image
over-painted in oils as castaways,  taken on 18 July 1879
at Christ Church, Oxford. Virtually all of Dodgson's 38
documented figure studies (nudes) and their negatives were
destroyed by him or his Executor at his direction, and
only four extant images are known - prints of images
that had been given to the families of the subjects and
then included in/surviving from family albums. Most
of Dodgson's figure studies were taken in the 1870s,
a period in which he was working with several artists
to develop ideas/images for illustrations in several
publications he was planning. Over-painting of portraits
was not unusual, rendering the image more 'artistic' and,
in the case of nudes, creating a narrative context that
would allow the image to be shown with propriety to
friends. [#2581]

       
        Beatrice Henley (b. 1859), daughter of Rev. Robert
        Henley, vicar at Putney, London, taken on 20 July
        1864 at Lambeth Palace, home of Charles Longley,
        Archbishop of Canterbury. [#P032]

           
            Artist and art critic John Ruskin, taken on 3 June 1875
            at Christ Church, Oxford. Author of a series of seminal
            works on British art and patron of Turner, Ruskin was
            named Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford in 1869. He
            was the first recognized art critic to champion the artistic
            innovations associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brother-
            hood in the late 1840s and early 1850s. [#2309]

                  
                Ella Monier-Williams (b. 1859), the daughter of Monier
                Monier-Williams, Oxford Professor of Sanskrit, taken
                during 24-29 May 1866 at Badcock's Yard, Oxford.
                While most of Dodgson's portraits were taken in full-
                or three-quarter length attitude, this is one of a smaller
                number taken close-up. As a general practice, Dodgson
                avoided close-up framing because he considered it
                inappropriately intimate. [#1473]

     
        Iconic tableau image of Alice Pleasance Liddell (b. 1852)
        "as The Beggar-Maid" after Tennyson's The Beggar Maid
        (1842), taken in the Deanery Garden at Christ Church, Oxford
        in the summer of 1858. This image can also be interpreted as
        one of pairing of opposing attitudes, contrasted with the
        image of Alice Liddell Dressed in Her Best Outfit, taken in
        exactly the same location in the same session. Dodgson
        on occasion experimented with images of beggar children,
        after the popular works of Dickens, including an earlier
        more primitive image of Alice Liddell in beggar's rags.[#0354]
 

           
                Portrait of C. L. Dodgson taken by O. G.
                Rejlander at Rejlander's London studio
                on 28 March 1863.
 

    Numbers in brackets are references to the definitive Dodgson registry of  photographs,
    as reconstructed and annotated by Edward Wakeling.