The Infant Bridal

From the Getty Museum record

> In *The History of Our Lord as Exemplified in Works of Art* (1864), the art historian and Christian iconographer Anna Jameson advised her Victorian readership that “we need sometimes to be reminded of the sacredness of childhood.” The idea of children as innocent lovers and icons of cherubic contentment was explored by Julia Margaret Cameron in several studies made within the first few years of her career in photography. > > In *The Infant Bridal* the models are Freddy Gould (born 1861, death date unknown) and Elizabeth Keown (born 1859, death date unknown), the same two children found in *Paul and Virginia* (see [84.XZ.186.3](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/58581/julia-margaret-cameron-paul-and-virginia-british-1864/)). The title of the picture is taken from a poem of the same name by Aubrey de Vere, first published in 1855. A romantic idyll in three parts, it describes the betrothal of two infants, which secures peace between two warring kingdoms. This narrative provided Cameron the excuse to photograph the children in a semi-clothed state, ordinarily a violation of Victorian convention. > > Cameron was at her most directorial in situations that required the orchestration of a narrative involving child models. In this picture the two subjects are huddled together on a studio chair, joined in a holy union. The cloth that drapes their lower anatomies binds them together at the chest, as though they are Siamese twins. The curve of the chair serves as a halo element, further adding to the aura of sacredness that surrounds them. > > Julian Cox. *Julia Margaret Cameron*, In Focus: From the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1996), 20. ©1996 The J. Paul Getty Museum.