March 10, 1945

Eleanor Fortescue Brickdale (1871 to March 10, 1945)  is a more interesting artist than her Pre-Raphaelite label would suggest. Their typical clutching at a fantasy of what the past was like, does not seem so silly in the canvases of this female painter. Her father was a barrister and she studied with John Ruskin among others. Her home and studio was in Kensington for decades. She acted on a stout Christian faith and donated paintings to churches.

She was popular in her time, (one of her murals was in the Royal Academy dining room) and not forgotten today. According to one site:

During her time, Brickdale was lucky to be successful as an artist. She worked as both a commissioned painter and a commissioned illustrator from her studio in Kensington for more than 30 years. In 1902, the same year she opened her studio, she became the first female member of the Institute of Painters in Oils. She was elected a member of the Royal Watercolour Society, receiving the postnominal initials RWS, in 1919, although some sources claim she was a member as early as 1903. ...

And the same site reminds us:

In addition to working as a book illustrator and a painter, Brickdale also designed bookplates, painted plaster figurines, and created stained glass windows for Bristol Cathedral.

Two examples of her work are below, the first depicts a cat.



This is a detail from "The Deceitfulness of Riches" (1901 ).

And below is her 1919 depiction of "Heloise and Abelard".