Henrietta Emma Ratcliffe Rae (30 December 1859 – 26 January 1928) was a British painter of the late

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

,Arthur Fish
''Henrietta Rae (Mrs. Ernest Normand)''
London, Cassell & Co., 1905. who specialised in classical, allegorical and literary subjects. Her best-known painting is '' The Lady with the Lamp'' (1891); depicting

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during t ...

at Scutari.

Biography

Henrietta Rae was born on 30 December 1859 in

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, to Thomas Burbey Rae, a civil servant, and Ann Eliza Rae (), a musician who had been a student of

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sy ...

. She had three brothers and three sisters. Rae began formally studying art at the age of thirteen, being educated at the Queen Square School of Art,

Heatherley's School of Art The Heatherley School of Fine Art is an independent art school in London. The school was named after Thomas Heatherley who took over as the school's principal from James Mathews Leigh (when it was named "Leigh's"). Founded in 1845, the school ...

(as the school's first female pupil) and at the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. Rae reportedly applied to the

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...

at least five times before eventually gaining a seven-year scholarship. Her teachers there included Sir

Lawrence Alma-Tadema Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, (; born Lourens Alma Tadema ; 8 January 1836 – 25 June 1912) was a Dutch painter who later settled in the United Kingdom becoming the last officially recognised denizen in 1873. Born in Dronryp, the Netherlands, ...

, who had the strongest influence on her later work, as well as

Frank Dicksee Sir Francis Bernard Dicksee (27 November 1853 – 17 October 1928) was an English Victorian painter and illustrator, best known for his pictures of dramatic literary, historical, and legendary scenes. He also was a noted painter of portr ...

and

William Powell Frith William Powell Frith (9 January 1819 – 2 November 1909) was an English painter specialising in genre subjects and panoramic narrative works of life in the Victorian era. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1853, presenting ''The Sleep ...

In 1884 she married painter and fellow Royal Academy student Ernest Normand, but kept her maiden name – a choice considered unusual at the time – because she had already begun to establish her reputation as an artist, having been a frequent exhibitor at the annual Royal Academy exhibitions since 1881. Rae and Normand lived in

Holland Park Holland Park is an area of Kensington, on the western edge of Central London, that contains a street and public park of the same name. It has no official boundaries but is roughly bounded by Kensington High Street to the south, Holland Road ...

, the residence of many other artists of the day. Frequent visitors included Leighton, Millais,

Prinsep Prinsep may mean any of several notable members of the British Prinsep family. The family descended from John Prinsep, an 18th-century merchant who was the son of Rev. John Prinsep, rector of Saundby, Nottinghamshire, and Bicester, Oxfordshire. J ...

, and

Watts Watts is plural for ''watt'', the unit of power. Watts may also refer to: People *Watts (surname), list of people with the surname Watts Fictional characters *Watts, main character in the film '' Some Kind of Wonderful'' *Watts family, six chara ...

. However, the attention was not always welcomed. In her memoirs, Rae described the overbearing attitudes and conduct of some of the more senior artists. In one such case, Prinsep dipped his thumb in cobalt blue paint and marked up one of Rae's pictures. In retaliation, Rae "accidentally" burnt his hat on her stove. Rae and Normand travelled to Paris in 1890 to study at the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...

with

Jules Joseph Lefebvre Jules Joseph Lefebvre (; 14 March 183624 February 1911) was a French figure painter, educator and theorist. Early life Lefebvre was born in Tournan-en-Brie, Seine-et-Marne, on 14 March 1836. He entered the École nationale supérieure des Bea ...

and

Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant (also known as Benjamin-Constant), born Jean-Joseph Constant (10 June 1845 – 26 May 1902), was a French painter and etcher best known for his Oriental subjects and portraits. Biography Benjamin-Constant was bor ...

. In 1893, they moved to

Upper Norwood Upper Norwood is an area of south London, England, within the London Boroughs of Bromley, Croydon, Lambeth and Southwark. It is north of Croydon and the eastern part of it is better known as the Crystal Palace area. Upper Norwood is situated ...

, into a studio that was custom-built for them by Normand's father. The couple had two children, a son (born in 1886) and a daughter (born in 1893). Rae exhibited her work at the

Palace of Fine Arts The Palace of Fine Arts is a monumental structure located in the Marina District of San Francisco, California, originally constructed for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition to exhibit works of art. Completely rebuilt from 1964 to ...

and The Woman's Building at the 1893

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordi ...

in Chicago, Illinois. Rae was a supporter of

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

and

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

. In 1897 Rae organised an exhibition of the work of female artists for the Jubilee of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

. She died on 26 January 1928 at Upper Norwood.

Works

Rae specialised in classical, allegorical and literary subjects. Her painting ''Elaine Guarding the Shield of Lancelot'' (1885) drew inspiration from the

Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...

poem ''Lancelot and Elaine''. Among her many other paintings in the classical vein, ''Eurydice Sinking Back to Hades'' (1886) won Honorable Mention at the 1889 International Exhibition in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and a medal at the 1893

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Her 1891 painting ''Miss Nightingale at Scutari (1854)'', of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, has been frequently reproduced, and is generally referred to as ''The Lady with the Lamp''.

Rae's ''Psyche at the Throne of Venus'' (1894) measures and contains 13 figures. Her painting ''Sir Richard Whittington Dispensing His Charities'' (1900) depicts

Richard Whittington Richard Whittington (c. 1354–1423) of the parish of St Michael Paternoster Royal, City of London, was an English merchant and a politician of the late medieval period. He is also the real-life inspiration for the English folk tale ''Dick ...

; a medieval merchant and four-time

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...

. She also painted many socially prominent people; including

Lord Dufferin Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava (21 June 182612 February 1902) was a British public servant and prominent member of Victorian society. In his youth he was a popular figure in the court of Queen Vict ...

in 1901. Her works include: *''Love's young dream'' (1883) *''Elaine guarding the shield of Lancelot'' (1885) *''Ariadne'' (1885) *''Eurydice Sinking Back to Hades'' (1886) *''Zephyrus and Flora'' (1888) *'' Miss Nightingale at Scutari (1854)'' (1891) *''Psyche at the throne of Venus'' (1894) *''Apollo and Daphne'' (1895) *''Diana and Calisto'' (1899) *''Sir Richard Whittington dispensing his Charities'' (1900) Mural at the

Royal Exchange, London The Royal Exchange in London was founded in the 16th century by the merchant Sir Thomas Gresham on the suggestion of his factor Richard Clough to act as a centre of commerce for the City of London. The site was provided by the City of London Cor ...

*''The Marquess of Dufferin and Ava'' (1901) *''Hylas and the water nymphs'' (1910) *''John Horner'' ''1858-1919'' (1913;

Ulster Museum The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres (90,000 sq. ft.) of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasure ...

, Belfast)

Gallery

File:Eine Bacchantin.jpg, ''A Bacchante'' (1885) File:Rae, Henrietta - Doubts - 1886.jpg, ''Doubts'' (1886) File:Henrietta Rae - Azaleas 1895.jpg, ''Azaleas'' (1895) File:Henrietta Rae - Ophelia - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Ophelia'' (1890) File:Henrietta Rae - Zephyrus wooing Flora.jpg, ''Zephyrus Wooing Flora'' (c. 1900) File:Henrietta Rae (1859-1928) - Venus Enthroned (1902), vintage colour plate.png, ''Venus Enthroned'' (1902) File:The Sirens by Henrietta Rae (1903).jpg, ''The Sirens'' (1903) File:Henrietta Rae - Isabella 1905.jpg, ''Isabella'' (1905)

References

External links

Henrietta Rae
@ Victorian Artists.
"Into the Light"
Henrietta Rae and the Academic Nude @ Eclectic Light * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rae, Henrietta 1859 births 1928 deaths 19th-century English painters 20th-century English painters 20th-century English women artists 19th-century English women artists Académie Julian alumni Artists from London English women painters People from Hammersmith