Miriam Isabel Davis (1856 – 20 February 1927) was an English painter, best known for her

portrait A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...

, floral and genre scene paintings.

Biography

Davis was born in London to

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

parents Eliza and James Phineas Davis. Her mother was a correspondent of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

, whose former home at

Tavistock House Tavistock House was the London home of the noted British author Charles Dickens and his family from 1851 to 1860. At Tavistock House Dickens wrote ''Bleak House'', '' Hard Times'', ''Little Dorrit'' and ''A Tale of Two Cities''. He also put on a ...

the Davis family inhabited. After making a tour of the galleries of

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, and Rome, Davis began a systematic course of artistic study at London's Bloomsbury School of Art. Her artistic career began in 1882 when her work was exhibited by the

Society of Lady Artists The Society of Women Artists (SWA) is a British art body dedicated to celebrating and promoting fine art created by women. It was founded as the Society of Female Artists (SFA) in about 1855, offering women artists the opportunity to exhibit and ...

. In 1887 a painting by her entitled ''New Music'' was hung 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 ...

, and in 1889 she contributed to the

Paris Salon The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...

. Among her other works are ''Winter Harmonies'' (1887), ''A Shady Seat'' (1888), ''The Last of the Season'' (1889), ''White and Gold'' (1890, exhibited at the New Gallery), ''Pure Emblems of Pleasure'' (1891, exhibited at the Royal Academy), and ''Simplicité'' (1892, shown at the Paris Salon). From 1895 Davis was engaged in

portrait painting Portrait Painting is a genre in painting, where the intent is to represent a specific human subject. The term 'portrait painting' can also describe the actual painted portrait. Portraitists may create their work by commission, for public and pr ...

, but remained well known for her flower subjects. She exhibited often at the Society of Women Painters, of which she was one of the founders. In 1904 she married Cornish Jewish opera singer Henry Morris Imano (), who toured with the

D'Oyly Carte Opera Company The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company is a professional British light opera company that, from the 1870s until 1982, staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere. Th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Miriam Isabel 1856 births 1927 deaths 19th-century British Jews 19th-century English women artists 19th-century English painters 20th-century British Jews 20th-century English women artists 20th-century English painters English portrait painters English women painters Jewish women painters Jewish painters Painters from London People from Maida Vale