Margaret Backhouse (''née'' Holden) (1818–1888) was a successful British portrait and

genre painter Genre painting (or petit genre), a form of genre art, depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity can be attached ...

during the 19th century. Although she was born near Birmingham, Backhouse spent most of her life in London where she showed works on a regular basis at the Royal Academy, the Society of Women Artists and at the Royal Society of British Artists.

Biography

Backhouse was born at Summerhill near

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

and grew up in

Woolstaston Woolstaston is a small village and civil parish in Shropshire, England, south of Shrewsbury and north of the nearest town, Church Stretton. It is located in the northern foothills of the Long Mynd and is situated near Leebotwood, Smethcott and ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

. Her father was the Reverend H Augustus Holden and the family lived in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

for a time. Backhouse attended a school in

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

before taking art classes in Paris for a year. She studied under a painter named Grenier and a watercolour artist named Jean-Baptiste Desire Troivaux. When the family relocated to Britain they lived in Cheltenham for a year before Backhouse continued her art education at

Sass's Academy Henry Sass (24 April 1788 – 1844) was an English artist and teacher of painting, who founded an important art school, Sass's Academy (later "Cary's Academy"), in London, to provide training for those seeking to enter the Royal Academy. Man ...

in London. Later Backhouse would take further lessons from

William Mulready William Mulready (1 April 1786 – 7 July 1863) was an Irish genre painter living in London. He is best known for his romanticising depictions of rural scenes, and for creating Mulready stationery letter sheets, issued at the same time as the P ...

and from the engraver

Edward Goodall Edward Goodall (1795 – 11 April 1870) was a British engraver. He is now best known for his plates after J. M. W. Turner. Life He was born at Leeds on 17 September 1795, and was entirely self-taught. From the age of sixteen he practised both ...

. In April 1845 she married the artist Henry Fleetwood Backhouse and began to raise a family while continuing to paint. In the 1860s and 1870s she visited and painted in Switzerland and Italy, often sketching women at work. Backhouse exhibited at the

Royal Academy 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 pur ...

between 1846 and 1882. Between 1848 and 1885, some 80 works by Backhouse featured in Society of Women Artists exhibitions and she also showed thirty works at the

Royal Society of British Artists The Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy. History The RBA commenced with twenty-seven members, and took until 1876 to reach fif ...

in the same period. Many of her paintings were issued as chromolithographs by Rowney's. By 1850 Backhouse was living at Richmond Road in

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

and she seems to have stayed there until 1868 or 1869 and then lived at Whitley Villas on the Caledonian Road until at least 1885. Her daughter, Mary, also became an artist.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Backhouse, Margaret 1818 births 1888 deaths 19th-century English painters 19th-century English women artists British genre painters English portrait painters English women painters 19th-century British women painters