Edith Martineau

1842 - 1909

Edith Martineau and her sister Gertrude were members of a small group of female artists associated with the Pre-Raphaelites. She was born in Liverpool where her father was a Unitarian theologian and minister. She studied in Liverpool School of Art and, when her family moved to London, continued her studies firstly at Leigh's Academy and then, in 1862, she became the first woman to be admitted to the Royal Academy Schools. Painting genre and landscape watercolours, she was a prolific exhibitor at the Royal Academy, Royal Watercolour Society and elsewhere. Examples of her work are in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum. She was the niece of the author Harriet Martineau.