Julia Margaret Cameron
1872
King Lear Alotting His Kingdom to His Three Daughters

Albumen silver print, from glass negative
13 1/8 × 11 1/16 in. (33.4 × 28.1 cm) (image) 18 1/2 × 14 7/8 in. (47 × 37.8 cm) (mount)
 
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Bequest of Maurice B. Sendak, 2012, Accession Number: 2013.159.3
 
Curatorial description (Accessed: 21 Sept 2017)
The three Liddell sisters—Lorina, Elizabeth, and Alice—posed with the photographer's husband playing the tragically deceived King Lear in one of Cameron's few Shakespearean compositions. Goneril and Regan whisper false flattery in the aging king's ear while the truly devoted but disinherited Cordelia—here unadorned and dressed in white—stands before him, an embodiment of disillusioned innocence.
 
LL/77574