3-100-743 - "Royal Academy of Arts, London"/Heritage Images

Julia Margaret Cameron by G. F. Watts, R.A., 1885. Photogravure by her son Henry Herschel Hay Cameron, after a portrait of by George Frederic Watts of pioneering British photographer Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879). Watts painted the portrait c1850 after Mrs Cameron had returned from Ceylon. Watts was to become a close friend of Mrs Cameron and a great influence on her photography. For many years he lived at Little Holland House, the home of Julia's sister Sarah Prinsep and her husband Thoby. From here, Watts corresponded regularly with Mrs Cameron, giving her advice and encouragement as she took her first photographs in her 'glass-house' at Dimbola. Such was his support, Mrs Cameron declared 'Mr Watts gave me such encouragement that I felt as if I have wings to fly with'. The original portrait by Watts is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London. From "Alfred, Lord Tennyson and His Friends A Series of 25 Portraits and Frontispiece in Photogravure From The Negatives Of Mrs. Julia Margaret Cameron And H.H.H. Cameron Reminiscences By Anne Thackeray Ritchie With Introduction by H.H. Hay Cameron" [London: 1893]