Thomas Pateshall Monnington

1 portrait

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Thomas Pateshall Monnington

by Julia Margaret Cameron
albumen print, 1866-1867
12 3/4 in. x 10 1/4 in. (325 mm x 261 mm)
Purchased, 1984
Primary Collection
NPG P286

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879), Pioneer photographer. Artist or producer associated with 119 portraits, Sitter in 9 portraits.

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Monnington was a minister of the Church of England, but in 1866 served as a tutor to Alfred Tennyson’s sons, Lionel and Hallam. Tennyson’s friend and neighbour on the Isle of Wight, Julia Margaret Cameron, often photographed the family. In this strikingly modern portrait, the sitter appears wrapped in velvet robes with his features softly drawn, intentionally out of focus. Cameron started taking photographs as an amateur in 1863 at the age of forty-eight, and became one of the leading practitioners of the nineteenth century. She was a pioneer in her artistic vision, concerned from the beginning of her career with the relationship
between art and photography.

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Events of 1866back to top

Current affairs

After the failure of Lord Russell's premiership due to party disuniity, the Earl of Derby begins his third, brief, term as Prime Minister.
Dr Thomas Barnardo opens the first of his children's homes in the East End of London to care for children left orphaned by the recent cholera outbreak. The charity, now called Barnado's, is still running, although it has changed its focus from the direct care of children to fostering and adoption.

Art and science

Algernon Charles Swinburne causes controversy by publishing his volume of verse, Poems and Ballads, in which he challenges Victorian moral and religious values. The poems were attacked for their anti-Christianity and sensuality.
The botanist Gregor Mendel discovers laws of heredity, after cross-breeding pea-plants, observing how inherited traits are passed on to succeeding generations, laying the foundations for modern genetics.

International

The Peace of Prague is signed following the end of the Austro-Prussian war. Although lenient towards Austria, the loser, Austria's refusal to cede Venetia to Napoleon III, and in turn Italy, resulted in the Hapsburg's permanent exclusion from German affairs. Prussia thus establishes herself as the only major power among the German states.
A Civil Rights Act is passed in the US, guaranteeing the legal rights of freed slaves.

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