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Virginia Woolf (née Stephen) (1882-1941), Novelist and critic; sister of Vanessa Bell

Sitter in 62 portraits
Novelist, essayist, biographer and critic. The third child of Leslie and Julia Stephen, and sister of Vanessa (later Bell) she was a central figure in Bloomsbury. With Vanessa, in 1905 she acted as hostess for the Thursday evening gatherings held at 46 Gordon Square that formed the nucleus of Old Bloomsbury. Despite intermittent bouts of mental illness her many novels, notably Night and Day (1919) and Jacob's Room (1922), Mrs Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), and The Waves (1931), transformed ideas about structure, plot and characterisation, and are an important literary legacy. She committed suicide in 1941.

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P220

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by George Charles Beresford
platinum print, July 1902
NPG P220

P221

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by George Charles Beresford
platinum print, July 1902
NPG P221

P222

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by George Charles Beresford
platinum print, July 1902
NPG P222

P223

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by George Charles Beresford
platinum print, July 1902
NPG P223

P1293

The Dreadnought Hoax

by Lafayette (Lafayette Ltd)
matte bromide print, 7 February 1910
NPG P1293

5933

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Vanessa Bell (née Stephen)
oil on board, 1912
NPG 5933

3882

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Stephen Tomlin
lead bust, 1931
On display in Room 31 at the National Portrait Gallery
NPG 3882

P170

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky)
silver print, 27 November 1934
NPG P170

P440

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Gisèle Freund
colour print, 1939
NPG P440

x4600

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen); Sir Leslie Stephen

by George Charles Beresford
sepia-toned platinotype, 1902
NPG x4600

x27535

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by George Charles Beresford
platinum print, retouched and heightened, July 1902
NPG x27535

x13124

Noel Olivier; Maitland Radford; Virginia Woolf (née Stephen); Rupert Brooke

by Unknown photographer
vintage print, possibly carbon on brown card mount, 1911
NPG x13124

Ax141319

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, circa 1917
NPG Ax141319

Ax141320

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, circa 1917
NPG Ax141320

Ax141321

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, circa 1917
NPG Ax141321

Ax141322

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, circa 1917
NPG Ax141322

Ax141310

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen); Lord David Cecil

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, June 1923
NPG Ax141310

Ax141311

Philip Charles Thomson Ritchie; Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, June 1923
NPG Ax141311

Ax141447

Garsington visitors

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, June 1923
NPG Ax141447

Ax141459

Lytton Strachey; Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, June 1923
NPG Ax141459

Ax141460

Lytton Strachey; Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, June 1923
NPG Ax141460

Ax141462

Garsington visitors

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, June 1923
NPG Ax141462

Ax141463

Lytton Strachey; Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, June 1923
NPG Ax141463

Ax141646

T.S. Eliot; Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, June 1924
NPG Ax141646

Ax141648

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, June 1924
NPG Ax141648

Ax141650

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, June 1924
NPG Ax141650

Ax141652

T.S. Eliot; Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, June 1924
NPG Ax141652

Ax142575

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen); Robert Bridges

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, 26 June 1926
NPG Ax142575

Ax142578

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen); Robert Bridges

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, 26 June 1926
NPG Ax142578

Ax142585

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, June 1926
NPG Ax142585

Ax142587

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, June 1926
NPG Ax142587

Ax142588

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen); Philip Edward Morrell

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, June 1926
NPG Ax142588

Ax142589

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, June 1926
NPG Ax142589

Ax142590

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, June 1926
NPG Ax142590

Ax142591

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, June 1926
NPG Ax142591

Ax142592

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, June 1926
NPG Ax142592

Ax142593

Sir Maurice Bowra; Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, June 1926
NPG Ax142593

Ax142594

Sir Maurice Bowra; Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, June 1926
NPG Ax142594

Ax142595

Sir Maurice Bowra; Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, June 1926
NPG Ax142595

Ax142596

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, June 1926
NPG Ax142596

Ax142597

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, June 1926
NPG Ax142597

Ax142604

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, June 1926
NPG Ax142604

x144307

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, June 1926
NPG x144307

Ax142598

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, June 1926
NPG Ax142598

Ax88536

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Barbara Strachey (Hultin, later Halpern)
bromide print, 1938
NPG Ax88536

Ax125376

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Barbara Strachey (Hultin, later Halpern)
bromide print, 1938
NPG Ax125376

D256

Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Rachel Pearsall Conn ('Ray') Strachey (née Costelloe)
oil on board, late 1920s
NPG D256

Ax13012

Lytton Strachey; Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, June 1923
NPG Ax13012

Family Tree
Woolf
Related People
Julian Heward Bell (nephew)
Quentin Claudian Stephen Bell (nephew)
Vanessa Bell (née Stephen) (sister)
(Karin) Judith Henderson (née Stephen) (niece)
Adrian Stephen (brother)
Sir James Stephen (grandfather)
Julia Prinsep Stephen (née Jackson; formerly Mrs Duckworth) (mother)
Sir Leslie Stephen (father)
Thoby Stephen (brother)
Ann Davies Synge (née Stephen) (niece)
Leonard Sidney Woolf (husband)
Links
Charleston, Lewes, East Sussex
Monk's House, Lewes, East Sussex
Virginia Woolf Society
Category
Literature, Journalism and Publishing
Groups
Bloomsbury
Novelists and authors
Women writers
Writers and critics
Places
London
Sussex