Mrs. Craik Holding Cat

Dinah Mulock Craik, a prolific English novelist and poet, was the subject of a series of over 25 photographs now in the Art Institute's collection. These portraits range from typical studio sittings to more casual photographs of Mrs. Craik in her garden; it is possible that at least some of them were produced by her younger brother, Benjamin Mulock, who learned photography (and later died in an asylum in 1863). In Victorian England, amateur photography required a knowledge of chemistry and optics, funds to purchase equipment and chemicals, and ample leisure time to experiment. Happy accidents often resulted in these early photographs, such as the appearance here of a two-headed cat, the result of the cat moving its head during the lengthy exposure demanded by early photographic technology.