Julia Stephen was the mother of Bloomsbury.
She has been described as an austerely beautiful muse of the Pre-Raphaelites, and her physical image comes down to us through countless paintings and photographs.
George Watt's portrait of Julia (1875), originally hung in Leslie Stephen's study at Hyde Park Gate, later it was in Duncan Grant's studio at 22 Fitzroy Square for some time, and then at Vanessa Bell's Charleston Farmhouse in Sussex, where it still hangs.
The family owned a number of the Julia Margaret Cameron portraits of Julia Stephen.
After Leslie Stephen's death in 1904, 22 Hyde Park Gate was sold and the children moved to 46 Gordon Square, Bloomsbury, where they hung 5 of these on the right hand side of the entrance hall.
Later, when her granddaughter Angelica Garnett moved into the Charleston Farmhouse in 1987, she hung them in the passageway.
Other images come from the photographs of family and friends.
These images formed an important link with their prematurely dead mother, for her children.
Writing to her sister in 1908, Vanessa Bell refers to her wish to "gaze at the most beautiful of Aunt Julia's photographs incessantly".
Otherwise, her image has been described as "elusive", for we know her largely through the construction of others, principally Leslie Stephen and Virginia Woolf, each with their own filters.
As Lowe observes, Julia Stephen has been variously constructed as "Madonna", "Nurse", "Wife", "Mother" and "Phantom".

Quentin Bell considers her importance measured not so much in herself as in her influence on others.
This was also the position taken by Leslie Stephen at the time of her death.
Many of her children, and their descendants in turn, became notable.
She played a part in the development of English thought and letters at the close of the nineteenth century.
Julia Stephen conformed to the Victorian male image of the ideal woman, virtuous, beautiful, capable and accommodating, symbolised in Burne-Jones' Annunciation.
Her conception of life was something she conveyed to her children with great effect.
Baron Annan goes so far as to point out resemblances in literary style between her writing in Notes for Sickrooms, and that of Virginia Woolf.
Although Julia's daughters rejected their Victorian heritage, their mother's influence appears in Woolf's low chignon  hairstyle and wearing her mother's dress in Vogue in May 1926 (see image).
Vanessa Bell too, would appear in one of her mother's dresses, such as the portrait of her by Duncan Grant (see image).
Woolf also wrote with her mother's pen.

Throughout her life, Julia Stephen was a prodigious letter writer, and according to Leslie Stephen, during her mother's lifetime, they "never passed a day apart without exchanging letters", often several.
After her death, The Julia Prinsep Stephen Nursing Association Fund was established to commemorate the life of a woman, Leslie Stephen described as one whose "frank kindly ways made her many friends among the poor".
Julia Stephen was the mother of Bloomsbury. She has been described as an austerely beautiful muse of the Pre-Raphaelites, and her physical image comes down to us through countless paintings and photographs. George Watt's portrait of Julia (1875), originally hung in Leslie Stephen's study at Hyde Park Gate, later it was in Duncan Grant's studio at 22 Fitzroy Square for some time, and then at Vanessa Bell's Charleston Farmhouse in Sussex, where it still hangs. The family owned a number of the Julia Margaret Cameron portraits of Julia Stephen. After Leslie Stephen's death in 1904, 22 Hyde Park Gate was sold and the children moved to 46 Gordon Square, Bloomsbury, where they hung 5 of these on the right hand side of the entrance hall. Later, when her granddaughter Angelica Garnett moved into the Charleston Farmhouse in 1987, she hung them in the passageway. Other images come from the photographs of family and friends. These images formed an important link with their prematurely dead mother, for her children. Writing to her sister in 1908, Vanessa Bell refers to her wish to "gaze at the most beautiful of Aunt Julia's photographs incessantly". Otherwise, her image has been described as "elusive", for we know her largely through the construction of others, principally Leslie Stephen and Virginia Woolf, each with their own filters. As Lowe observes, Julia Stephen has been variously constructed as "Madonna", "Nurse", "Wife", "Mother" and "Phantom".
Quentin Bell considers her importance measured not so much in herself as in her influence on others. This was also the position taken by Leslie Stephen at the time of her death. Many of her children, and their descendants in turn, became notable. She played a part in the development of English thought and letters at the close of the nineteenth century. Julia Stephen conformed to the Victorian male image of the ideal woman, virtuous, beautiful, capable and accommodating, symbolised in Burne-Jones' Annunciation. Her conception of life was something she conveyed to her children with great effect. Baron Annan goes so far as to point out resemblances in literary style between her writing in Notes for Sickrooms, and that of Virginia Woolf. Although Julia's daughters rejected their Victorian heritage, their mother's influence appears in Woolf's low chignon  hairstyle and wearing her mother's dress in Vogue in May 1926 (see image). Vanessa Bell too, would appear in one of her mother's dresses, such as the portrait of her by Duncan Grant (see image). Woolf also wrote with her mother's pen.
Throughout her life, Julia Stephen was a prodigious letter writer, and according to Leslie Stephen, during her mother's lifetime, they "never passed a day apart without exchanging letters", often several. After her death, The Julia Prinsep Stephen Nursing Association Fund was established to commemorate the life of a woman, Leslie Stephen described as one whose "frank kindly ways made her many friends among the poor".
Julia Stephen