Julia Stephens is best known for being a model, not only of Pre-Raphaelite painters, but also her photographer aunt, Julia Margaret Cameron.
Julia Stephen was Julia Margaret Cameron's favourite and most trusted and mutable model, (see Gallery II) documenting her moods and meditations.
Cameron was fascinated to the degree of obsession by Julia, with over 50 portraits, more than any other subject.
Julia's legacy is the image Cameron portrayed in her earlier days, the fragile ethereal figure with large soulful eyes and long wild hair.
Most of Cameron's photographs of Julia were taken between 1864 and 1875, including a series of profiles in the spring of 1867, two of which were during her period of engagement (plates 310–311), in which Cameron portrayed Julia's cool puritan beauty as a metaphor for the symbolic place of marriage, that Cameron called "the real nobility I prize above all things".
Here Cameron frames the bust with emphatic side lighting that accentuates the tautness in the swanlike neck and the strength in the head, indicating heroism and stateliness as befits a girl on the verge of matrimony.
By placing the subject facing into the light, the photographer illuminates her and suggests a forthcoming enlightenment.

Cameron frequently used a soft focus such as Julia Duckworth 1867 (plate 311) here.
One of these portraits she titled My Favorite Picture of all my works.
In this her eyes, are downcast and averted from the lens, a more sentimental effect than the dramatic frontal view of My niece Julia full face shown here.
In this portrait, the subject appears to stare assertively at the photographer, as if saying: "I am, like you, my own woman."
These are in sharp contrast to the series taken during her long widowhood and mourning for her first husband (1870–1878), with its gaunt pallid facial features.
Again, Cameron draws on another Victorian symbol, this time the tragic heroine whose beauty is consumed in grief.
Julia Stephens is best known for being a model, not only of Pre-Raphaelite painters, but also her photographer aunt, Julia Margaret Cameron. Julia Stephen was Julia Margaret Cameron's favourite and most trusted and mutable model, (see Gallery II) documenting her moods and meditations. Cameron was fascinated to the degree of obsession by Julia, with over 50 portraits, more than any other subject. Julia's legacy is the image Cameron portrayed in her earlier days, the fragile ethereal figure with large soulful eyes and long wild hair. Most of Cameron's photographs of Julia were taken between 1864 and 1875, including a series of profiles in the spring of 1867, two of which were during her period of engagement (plates 310–311), in which Cameron portrayed Julia's cool puritan beauty as a metaphor for the symbolic place of marriage, that Cameron called "the real nobility I prize above all things". Here Cameron frames the bust with emphatic side lighting that accentuates the tautness in the swanlike neck and the strength in the head, indicating heroism and stateliness as befits a girl on the verge of matrimony. By placing the subject facing into the light, the photographer illuminates her and suggests a forthcoming enlightenment.
Cameron frequently used a soft focus such as Julia Duckworth 1867 (plate 311) here. One of these portraits she titled My Favorite Picture of all my works. In this her eyes, are downcast and averted from the lens, a more sentimental effect than the dramatic frontal view of My niece Julia full face shown here. In this portrait, the subject appears to stare assertively at the photographer, as if saying: "I am, like you, my own woman." These are in sharp contrast to the series taken during her long widowhood and mourning for her first husband (1870–1878), with its gaunt pallid facial features. Again, Cameron draws on another Victorian symbol, this time the tragic heroine whose beauty is consumed in grief.
Julia Stephen