AFTER EMILY MARY OSBORN. Nameless and Friendless, from "Illustrated London News"

AFTER EMILY MARY OSBORN (1828-1925)

Nameless and Friendless, from "Illustrated London News"

Nameless and Friendless, from "Illustrated London News". Artist: After Emily Mary Osborn (British, London 1828-1925 London). Dimensions: Sheet: 10 1/8 × 12 15/16 in. (25.7 × 32.9 cm). Engraver: Edward Skill (British, London 1831-1878 Stockholm). Date: July 12, 1862. This print reproduces a painting (Tate Britain) that Osborn showed at the Royal Academy in 1857. Its owner then lent the work in 1862 to the International Exhibition at London, when the present wood-engraving was published in the "Illustrated London News." The image shows a young woman artist, accompanied by a brother, standing nervously in the shop of an art dealer whom she hopes will buy a work--her black dress suggesting the recent loss of parents and their support. Osborn added a Biblical quote to her title, "Nameless and Friendless: 'The rich man's wealth is his strong city, etc.'--Proverbs, x, 15," to emphasize the plight of women artists who lacked financial means and were denied institutional access. The work should be read as a plea for reform rather than an illustration of personal experience, since Osborn's own family funded her training, and she sold paintings to influential clients such as Queen Victoria. From 1857, Osborn was active in feminist causes, joining the newly established Society of Female Artists that year, signing a petition addressed to the Royal Academy Schools in 1859 that asked for female students be admitted, and campaigning for women's suffrage in the 1880s.

WOOD ENGRAVING

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Album / Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

Model: No - Property: No
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3880 x 3073 px | 34.1 MB

32.9 x 26.0 cm | 12.9 x 10.2 in (300 dpi)