Virginia Woolf

Image credit: National Portrait Gallery, London

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Notes

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This photograph was taken in July 1902, when twenty-year-old Virginia Woolf (Virginia Stephen as she was then) was just embarking on her career as a writer and when the photographer Beresford had recently set up a commercial studio in Yeoman's Row, off the Brompton Road.

Since her father, Sir Leslie Stephen and her sister, Vanessa, were photographed at the same time, one may presume that the idea was Sir Leslie's. Apparently six photographs were taken of Sir Leslie, fourteen of Virginia and an unspecified number of Vanessa.

This image was printed with platinum salts, a technique that produces a rich range of nuanced tones. The result, so far as Virginia was concerned, was remarkable, showing her looking pale and contemplative and emphasizing her beautiful liquid eyes and strong aquiline features.

National Portrait Gallery, London

London

Title

Virginia Woolf

Date

1902

Medium

platinum print

Measurements

H 15.2 x W 10.8 cm

Accession number

P221

Acquisition method

purchased, 1983

Work type

Photograph

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