Anna Blunden facts for kids

Anna Blunden (born 1829, died 1915) was a talented British artist. She was part of the Pre-Raphaelite art movement. This group of artists liked to paint in a very detailed and colourful way. Anna Blunden was also connected to the famous art critic John Ruskin. She was one of many women artists who showed their work during the Victorian era.

Her most famous painting is The Seamstress (1854). This painting was inspired by a poem about a hardworking seamstress. Anna Blunden started her career painting with oils. Later, she began painting beautiful landscapes using watercolours. Many of her remaining artworks are these watercolour landscapes. Her art was often shown at important places like the Royal Academy and the Society of British Artists. She also showed her work at the Birmingham Society of Artists.

Anna Blunden's Life Story

Anna Blunden - The Seamstress or For Only One Short Hour (1854). This painting is at the Yale Center for British Art.

Anna Blunden was born in London on December 22, 1829. Her parents were bookbinders. They later moved to Exeter to start a business making straw hats and silk flowers. In Exeter, Anna went to a Quaker school.

Before becoming an artist, she worked as a governess in Devon. A governess teaches children in their home. Anna then moved to London to study art. She took classes at Leigh's Academy. She also studied art on her own at the British Museum and the National Gallery.

In 1859, Anna Blunden and 37 other women asked the Royal Academy to let women join. From 1855 to 1862, she exchanged letters with John Ruskin. He gave her informal art lessons and encouraged her. Ruskin even helped her get some painting jobs. He also told her to visit and work in Italy. She did this from 1867 to 1872. She also traveled to Switzerland and Germany. Later, she set up her own art studio in Rome.

Anna returned home in 1872 when her sister passed away. Soon after, she married her brother-in-law, Francis Richard Martino. They moved to Birmingham, where Francis owned a steel mill. Anna showed her art at the Royal Academy one last time in 1872. From 1873, she began showing her work at the Birmingham Society of Artists. She raised three children and passed away in 1915.

Her Art and Career

Sadly, many of Anna Blunden's artworks were lost. This happened because of bombing in Exeter during World War Two. From the art that still exists and her exhibition records, we know she started as a figure painter in the 1850s. A figure painter focuses on painting people.

Her paintings often showed modern topics. For example, The Seamstress (1843) and A Scene from Uncle Tom's Cabin (1853) are good examples. The Seamstress showed the difficult lives of women who worked long hours sewing clothes. These women often worked in small rooms to make fine clothes for richer people. The painting helped people think about the tough working conditions for women in clothing factories.

It's not clear if she lived in Cornwall. But some of her paintings, like View Near The Lizard, show she spent time there. Other works by Anna Blunden include Past and Present (shown in 1858) and A Mother's Tale (shown in 1855). As her career continued, Anna changed her style. In the 1860s, she moved from oil painting and portraits to painting landscapes with watercolours.

See Also

• Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
• John Ruskin