Emily Mary Osborn - Move To London and Exhibition at RA

Move To London and Exhibition At RA

Her father’s final entry in the parish registers of St. James’, was on 2 November 1842, after which the family removed to London – "to the great delight of his eldest girl, who rightly considered there was now some chance of realising the hopes she entertained of one day becoming an artist". Thereafter she attended evening classes at the Dickenson academy, Maddox Street. She then studied privately under one of the masters from Maddox St., and later at his gallery in Newman Street for a year. In 1851, at the age of seventeen, Osborn began showing her work in the annual Royal Academy exhibits, and continued to do so over a span of four decades (to 1893). Her first paintings to be sent to the Royal Academy were a few portraits and figure subjects "of unpretending character", in the Great Exhibition year, 1851. In 1854 the R.A. exhibited a small picture by Osborn, titled Pickles and Preserves, which was purchased by C. J. Mitchell, Esq., who later introduced the artist to his brother, Mr. William Mitchell. He, "hearing she was desirous of producing something of greater importance", gave Emily a commission for a group of life-sized portraits of a lady (Mrs. Sturgiss) and her three children. With the 200 guineas received for this work, she ‘added a studio to her residence’. She had also, in that same R.A. exhibition (1855) hung a smaller painting called My Cottage Door, "which brought the artist well-deserved fame" and was purchased by Queen Victoria.