An IASH Work-in-Progress seminar, delivered by Professor Catriona Seth (Senior Anniversary Fellow 2023; University of Oxford)
Recovering a forgotten Scottish artist: Katherine Read (1723-1778)
Born near Dundee in 1723 to a well-to-do Jacobite family, Katherine Read defied many expectations. Though not from an artistic background, she would forge a career as Britain’s most successful woman artist, training in France and Italy before opening a studio in London. During her time in England, she portrayed members of the royal family and many aristocrats, often those who had Scottish roots and was widely celebrated for her work. Though a talented oil painter and miniaturist, she preferred pastel as a medium and specialised in pictures of women and children. At the end of her life, Read went to India where she continued to exercise her art. She found the climate difficult and attempted to return to Europe. She died onboard ship before reaching the Cape. I will talk about why Katherine Read’s career does not correspond to historiographical norms, how one goes about trying to locate sources when thinking, as I am, about her networks, why artists like her have become invisible and what we might want to do about this.
Click the link below to join the webinar:
https://ed-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/86535202023
Passcode: Vr8f3ew2