# Portrait of Sir John Herschel

- By: Julia Margaret Cameron (Kolkata, 1815–na 1)
- Date: 1867
- Medium: cardboard, paper
- Classification: photograph
- Dimensions: height 355 mm x width 279 mm
- Museum: [Rijksmuseum](https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/object/RP-F-F80052--6aa668d7d7adbb769c14c40fda35985c)
- Rights: [Public Domain Mark](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/)
- Picture: https://iiif.micr.io/hRaTS/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

The reason why this portrait is out of focus is not because its maker was a ‘mere’ amateur unskilled in photography. Cameron deliberately adjusted her lens so that the image would not be sharp. In order to be ‘art’, a photograph should not merely copy reality as exactly as possible. Cameron is the most famous 19th-century photographer who used blurriness to achieve an artistic effect.