Elizabeth, Lady Eastlake (17 November 1809 – 2 October 1893), born Elizabeth Rigby, was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

author, art critic and art historian, who made regular contributions for the ''

Quarterly Review The ''Quarterly Review'' was a literary and political periodical founded in March 1809 by London publishing house John Murray. It ceased publication in 1967. It was referred to as ''The London Quarterly Review'', as reprinted by Leonard Scott, f ...

''. She is known not only for her writing but also for her significant role in the

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

art world.

Life

Elizabeth Eastlake was born in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

into the large family of Edward and Anne Rigby. Her father, a physician and classical scholar, and her mother included her in their social life and conversation with prominent citizens and intellectuals. Elizabeth was fond of drawing from a young age and continued studying art into her twenties, when she was taught to draw and etch by the artist Edward Daniell. She was privately educated and learnt French and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

, but after an illness in 1827, she was sent to convalesce in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and Switzerland. She stayed two years and started a lifetime of publication with a translation of

Johann David Passavant Johann David Passavant (18 September 1787 – 17 August 1861) was a German painter, curator and artist. Biography Passavant was born in 1787 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. His interest in the arts was evident by an early correspondence wi ...

's essay on English art; a second trip to Germany in 1835 led to an article on

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as tr ...

. After travelling to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

and

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

to visit a married sister, her published letters and her travel book ''A Residence on the Shores of the Baltic'' (1841) led to an invitation to write for the ''Quarterly Review'' by the editor,

John Gibson Lockhart John Gibson Lockhart (12 June 1794 – 25 November 1854) was a Scottish writer and editor. He is best known as the author of the seminal, and much-admired, seven-volume biography of his father-in-law Sir Walter Scott: ''Memoirs of the Life of Sir ...

In 1842, the widowed Anne Rigby moved with her daughters to

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

, where Elizabeth's literary career brought entry to an intellectual social circle including prominent figures such as Lord Jeffrey, John Murray and

David Octavius Hill David Octavius Hill (20 May 1802 – 17 May 1870) was a Scottish painter, photographer and arts activist. He formed Hill & Adamson studio with the engineer and photographer Robert Adamson between 1843 and 1847 to pioneer many aspects of pho ...

, who photographed her in a series of about 20 early calotypes, assisted by Robert Adamson. Despite a diary entry in 1846 saying there were many "compensations" for unmarried women, three years later, at 40, Elizabeth married

Sir Charles Lock Eastlake Sir Charles Lock Eastlake (17 November 1793 – 24 December 1865) was a British painter, gallery director, collector and writer of the 19th century. After a period as keeper, he was the first director of the National Gallery. Life Eastlake ...

, artist, connoisseur, Director of the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...

in London, and in 1853 the first president of the

Photographic Society The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is one of the world's oldest photographic societies. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as the Photographic Society of London with ...

. She joined him in an active working and social life, entertaining artists such as

Landseer Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (7 March 1802 – 1 October 1873) was an English painter and sculptor, well known for his animal art, paintings of animals – particularly horses, dogs, and stags. However, his best-known works are the lion sculptures ...

and mixing with a wide range of well-known people, from

Lord Macaulay Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, (; 25 October 1800 – 28 December 1859) was a British historian and Whig politician, who served as the Secretary at War between 1839 and 1841, and as the Paymaster-General between 1846 and 1 ...

to Lady Lovelace. Her habit of continental travel continued through the 1850s and 1860s as she and her husband toured several European countries in search of new acquisitions for the gallery. In 1857, she published her much-scrutinised essay ''Photography'', one of the earliest commentaries on it, effectively denying 'works of light' a place among the fine arts, and detailing its permeation of nineteenth-century culture, its social institutions and the home, pronouncing it “a household word and a household want”. She continued to write prolifically, helping to popularise German

art history Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

in England, both as critic and as translator ( Waagen and Kugler). Sometimes, she collaborated with her husband, and she wrote a memoir of him after his death in 1865. Italian art also absorbed her attention;

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

, Michelangelo,

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian (Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, nea ...

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual a ...

and Dürer were the subjects of her ''Five Great Painters'' (1883). In 1895 her nephew Charles Eastlake Smith edited her ''Letters and Correspondence'', the first volume of which at least was read by the late 19th century English novelist

George Gissing George Robert Gissing (; 22 November 1857 – 28 December 1903) was an English novelist, who published 23 novels between 1880 and 1903. His best-known works have reappeared in modern editions. They include '' The Nether World'' (1889), '' New Gr ...

in July of the following year.

Reputation

In the 20th century, aside from her ''Photography,'' she was remembered mostly for her scathing review of ''

Jane Eyre ''Jane Eyre'' ( ; originally published as ''Jane Eyre: An Autobiography'') is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The first ...

'', of which she strongly disapproved. She disputed the morality of the novel, writing that ‘the popularity of Jane Eyre is a proof how deeply the love for illegitimate romance is implanted in our nature’ and summarising with ‘It is a very remarkable book: we have no remembrance of another combining such genuine power with such horrid taste’. She is also known for her attacks on

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...

, assumed to be linked to her role as confidante to his estranged wife,

Effie Gray Euphemia Chalmers Millais, Lady Millais (''née'' Gray; 7 May 1828 – 23 December 1897) was a Scottish artists' model and the wife of Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais. She had previously been married to the art critic John Ruskin ...

. According to historian Rosemary Mitchell, however, her work as art historian and writer was significant and original. Mitchell considers Eastlake to have been a scholarly and perceptive critic, and Marion Lochhead regards Eastlake as a 'pioneer of feminine journalism', whereas Janice Schroeder decries her values supporting women's subordinate place in the class structure within British imperialism.Schroeder, J. (1998). Strangers in Every Port: Stereotypes of Victorian Women Travellers. Victorian Review: The Journal of the Victorian Studies Association of Western Canada and the Victorian Studies Association of Ontario, 24(2), 118–29.

Works

''A Residence on the Shores of the Baltic''
(1841); London, 1844.
Review of Jane Eyre by Eizabeth Rigby

''Music'' and ''The Art of Dress''
two essays reprinted from the ''Quarterly Review'' (1852) * ''Livonian Tales: The Disponent, The Wolves, The Jewess'' By the Author of ''Letters from the Baltic'' New York: Harper & Brothers. 1856. Fragile tan wrappers. ''No. 85 - Library of Select Novels''

60 drawings by Elizabeth Rigby
from the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

''The history of Our Lord as exemplified in works of art (1890)''
*
Baltische briefe...
'(Leipzig, F.A. Brockhaus, 1846) *
Journals and correspondence of Lady Eastlake (London, J. Murray, 1895)
'

In popular culture

Elizabeth is portrayed by Emma Thompson in the film

, the script of which was also written by Thompson.

Citations

References

* * ''Lady Eastlake and Edinburgh Society'' in ''The Scotsman'', 4 December 1895
National Galleries of Scotland

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External links