3-100-783 - "Royal Academy of Arts, London"/Heritage Images

Mrs Thackeray Ritchie (from life), c1867. Photogravure printed by H.H.H. Cameron and his partner J.C. Smith from negatives by Julia Margaret Cameron. Anne Isabella Thackeray, (1837-1919), was the eldest daughter of William Makepeace Thackeray and the author of novellas and re-interpretations of fairy tales. As a long-standing friend of Julia Margaret Cameron, she was also the author of a number of reminiscences. After the death of her father in 1863, Anne Isabella Thackeray and her sister went to stay with Mrs Cameron at Dimbola Lodge. In her letters, she refers to Mrs Cameron's kindness. 'She was goodness in person.' She also describes Mrs Cameron's enthusiasm and determination in all things especially with regard to her photography. 'This lady followed up her art with extraordinary trouble and devotion, and also expected much from her sitters. Sitting to her was a serious affair...we trembled...when the round black eye of the camera was turned upon us...' From "A Series of 25 Portraits and Frontispiece In Photogravure From The Negatives Of Mrs. Julia Margaret Cameron And H.H.H. Cameron Reminiscences By Anne Thackeray Ritchie With Introduction By H.H. Hay Cameron" - [London: 1893]