by William Main.
I had purchased a reproduction of a well known Pre- Raphaelite painting by Sir John Millais called Bubbles, and this card in my collection was eventually joined by others.
I came across a real photo re-creation of Bubbles by the Kaikoura photographer Weidner. This was a very cleverly staged study of a curly headed boy arranged in a setting which replicated Millais painting, right down to the broken flower pot in the foreground along with a bar of soap, frilly lace collar and a long stemmed pipe.
Then lo and behold I acquired another couple of real photo Bubbles studies! These were less convincing in a number of ways when you look at them in comparison to Weidner’s, but none the less are two genuine attempts at recreating Bubbles photographically.