The Mountain Nymph, Sweet Liberty by Julia Margaret Cameron

Tennyson

Darwin

Browning

Longfellow

1. Julia Margaret Cameron, Alfred Tennyson, 1865, albumen print, George Eastman House

2. Julia Margaret Cameron, Charles Darwin, 1868, carbon print, George Eastman House

3. Julia Margaret Cameron, Robert Browning, 1865, print c. 1893, photogravure print, George Eastman House

4. Julia Margaret Cameron, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1868, print c. 1893, photogravure print, George Eastman House

In 1848 the Camerons returned to England. At her sister's home in London, the vivacious Julia was thrilled to meet the most distinguished writers and artists of the day, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Charles Darwin, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow among them. According to one scholar, these salons "satisfied both the social and spiritual sides of her nature. She took every opportunity to cultivate friendships with persons noted for their power, to open men's eyes to the ideal and the beautiful." Cameron was also busy with her six children, and later she adopted another.