A Quiet Moment

This photograph depicts an unidentified young girl, posed against a backdrop of leaves. Children in nature was a popular subject matter during the Victorian period, particularly shown in the works of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. 

The photograph was one of those shown at the first exhibition of the Photographic Society, held in Suffolk Street in London, in 1854. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited the exhibition on 3 January 1854. Newspapers reported their visit, noting, 

Among the less pretending, but scarcely less beautiful pictures, which obtained the royal admiration, was a clever little life sketch by Mr. C. Thurston Thompson, entitled "A Quiet Moment." The artist had caught a young child in a state of repose, and depicted its charming expression with so much beauty and accuracy, that her Majesty desired Mr. Fenton at all hazards to secure it for the royal collection.

Saunder's News-Letter and Daily Advertiser, 7 January 1854