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Primary sourcePhotographSummer 1859

Two of Carroll's Aunts Playing Chess

Lewis Carroll · Summer 1859

A photograph by Lewis Carroll of his aunts Margaret Anne and Henrietta Mary Lutwidge playing chess, summer 1859.

Carroll photographed his own aunts, showing his early domestic photography within his family.

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Sepia photograph of two elderly women in 19th-century dresses and lace caps sitting on opposite sides of a small table with a chessboard, mid-game, one reaching to move a piece. Plain dark backdrop.
Lewis Carroll, Two of Carroll's aunts playing chess, Summer 1859.

About this source

What it is

This sepia photograph, taken by Lewis Carroll in the summer of 1859, shows his two aunts, Margaret Anne and Henrietta Mary Lutwidge, playing chess at a small table.

Why it matters

The photograph is an example of Carroll's domestic photography in the 1850s, when he often photographed family members as subjects. It offers a glimpse into his family life and the everyday pastimes of Victorian women of his family.

Look closer

  • What does the setting and pose suggest about how formal or relaxed this family photograph was meant to be?
  • Why might Carroll have chosen to photograph his aunts in the middle of a game of chess?
  • What does this image tell us, or not tell us, about the role of women in Carroll's family?

This photograph is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Lewis Carroll on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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