My son is back home for a few months while he and his partner get ready to move to Strasbourg following being unexpectedly evicted from their flat in Bristol. They decided that being bundled up in a flat share wouldn’t do anything positive for their relationship so he’s here and she’s there while visas, work and accommodation get sorted out.
It got me thinking about family resemblances as my son looks very much like my side of the family whereas my daughters look more like their dad’s side. I was posted in Vanessa Bell’s Bedroom this week and I had the chance to look at some of the artwork representing the various members of the family.
Here is a photo of a beautiful pencil drawing of Maria Jackson, Julia Stephen’s mother, by G F Watts which hangs just outside the entrance to the Bedroom:
Julia Stephen was a Pre-Raphaelite model before her marriage to Leslie Stephen, and was muse to her photographer aunt, Julia Margaret Cameron who was well-known for her soft-focus images of famous Victorians and allegorical figures.
Here’s a photo of Julia Stephen taken by her aunt, which sits on the bureau in the Bedroom:
Vanessa, the eldest of Julia’s children with Leslie, was very fond of her mother, and felt her loss most keenly, being only 15 when Julia died at the age of 49 from influenza. Julia had 3 children from her first marriage to the marvellously-named Herbert Duckworth, born in quick succession: 1868, 69, and 70 and her children with Leslie were similarly consecutive at 1879, 80, 82 and 83. Julia’s daughter Stella Duckworth took on a maternal role until she married a couple of years later, at which point Vanessa must have felt obliged to shoulder the familial responsibility. This was continued at Charleston as Vanessa’s welcoming homeliness is much in evidence.
Here is a photo of Vanessa aged 24, propped up on the mantelpiece in the Studio:
The pot was made by Vanessa’s younger son Quentin, and she decorated it.
Here is Thoby Stephen, who died of typhoid at the age of 26. Only 16 months younger than Vanessa, he is credited with starting the Thursday evening gatherings that were the start of the Bloomsbury Group as we now know it. He was named Julian Thoby, and Vanessa’s eldest son Julian [Bell] is named after him.
sepia-toned platinotype print, August 1906
NPG x13093
I think he looks quite like Vanessa.
Also in the Studio is a painting of Julia’s youngest, Adrian Stephen and a bust of Virginia Woolf, second youngest.
After a few days of distraction, I felt quite rusty when I opened my sketchbook and had a go at drawing Virgina and Adrian:
Virginia Woolf has such a distinctive profile, enhanced by the Stephen Tomlin sculpture, who also did the Lytton Strachey bust in the Library. I think Adrian and Virginia are more alike, and take after their father, the writer, historian and mountaineer Leslie Stephen:
The house was busy this week so I had no time to draw, even though it was still cold and breezy; I was pleased that Clive Bell had seen fit to install radiators in the bedrooms when he moved in permanently and I draped myself over its cast iron warmth whenever I had the chance. The garden is looking delightful, and there were lots of wows at the tulips and apple blossom.
The Stephen side of the family with those round pale eyes and distinctive profile share such a resemblance through the generations, don't they? I found this post really interesting as family resemblence often occurs to me. My husband/father to our four grown up children looks so different to me (opposites attract sort of thing), so it has been really fascinating to me watching our children grow up and seeing who they resemble most... they all look quite different actually, yet the family resemblence unmistakably shines through, and they look like both of us.