Anna Brownell Jameson
Who was Anna Brownell Jameson?
Author, penwoman, art historian, governess, literary critic (-1860)
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Anna Brownell Jameson (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Anna Brownell Jameson was born on May 17, 1794, in Dublin, Ireland. She was the oldest daughter of Denis Brownell Murphy, an Irish miniature painter, and his wife. The family moved to England when she was a child, and Anna educated herself by reading widely and being part of the artistic environment her father encouraged. Her interest in learning and writing showed early on, and as a teenager, she started working as a governess to help support her family. This job lasted on and off for several years and gave her access to wealthy and cultured households across Britain and Europe.
In 1825, she published her first book anonymously, titled 'The Diary of an Ennuyée,' which was a semi-autobiographical account of her travels in Europe, written as a young woman's journal. The book gained a lot of attention and established her as a writer with a unique voice and sharp observation skills. Her marriage to Robert Sympson Jameson in 1825 was unhappy; they spent long periods apart, and Anna eventually joined him in Upper Canada in 1836 when he became the attorney general of Ontario. Her short time in Canada led to one of her most famous books, 'Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada,' published in 1838. This work gave honest and detailed descriptions of Indigenous peoples, colonial society, and the Great Lakes area.
Her most significant impact on intellectual life came through her writings on art history and criticism. Her series 'Sacred and Legendary Art,' which she started in 1848, looked at Christian art's iconography, focusing on how saints, angels, and biblical figures were depicted in European painting and sculpture over centuries. These volumes were popular among artists and writers in the 19th century and helped make art history writing a more serious field that educated general readers could access. Her earlier book 'Memoirs of the Early Italian Painters,' published in 1845, also focused on the lives and works of Renaissance artists with a high level of detail.
Outside of art criticism, Jameson was involved in discussions about women's education, work, and social roles. In her lecture 'Sisters of Charity' and other writings from the 1850s, she supported increasing women's professional opportunities and encouraged organized charity modeled on religious sisterhoods but available to women of all denominations. She formed close friendships with many notable figures of her time, including Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Harriet Martineau, Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon, and Lady Byron, and was part of a group of reform-minded women who helped pave the way for the women's rights movement in Britain.
Anna Brownell Jameson died in London on March 17, 1860, leaving behind a diverse body of work that influenced Victorian culture, art studies, and feminist thought. Her career showed that a woman could earn a living and build a reputation through dedicated intellectual work in an era when such achievements were rare and often discouraged.
Before Fame
Anna grew up in a home influenced by her father's career as a professional artist, which introduced her early on to visual art and the world of creativity. As the oldest of five daughters in a family with limited means, she started working as a governess around sixteen, which was a common job for educated women without much money at the time. This role placed her in the homes of the English gentry and upper-middle classes, where she had access to libraries, private art collections, and cultural discussions.
Her travels in Europe in the early 1820s, partly due to her work as a governess, were crucial for her intellectual growth. Seeing Italian and German art firsthand laid the groundwork for her later scholarly work, and her habit of keeping detailed journals during these trips led to the manuscript that became her first published book. By thirty, she had begun to gain recognition as a writer, though the full extent of her achievements in art historical scholarship was still years away.
Key Achievements
- Authored 'Sacred and Legendary Art' (1848–1864), a foundational multi-volume study of Christian iconography in European painting and sculpture.
- Published 'Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada' (1838), a pioneering travel narrative that provided detailed ethnographic observations of Indigenous peoples of the Great Lakes region.
- Delivered influential lectures on women's philanthropy and labor, including 'Sisters of Charity' (1855), contributing directly to early organized feminist advocacy in Britain.
- Wrote 'Memoirs of the Early Italian Painters' (1845), helping to popularize serious engagement with Renaissance art among English-speaking audiences.
- Established herself as one of the first professional women art historians writing in English, earning her livelihood entirely through criticism, scholarship, and travel writing.
Did You Know?
- 01.Her first book, 'The Diary of an Ennuyée' (1825), was modeled on the format of a dead woman's recovered journal, leading many early readers to believe the narrator had actually died.
- 02.During her stay in Canada in 1836–1837, she traveled by canoe with Ojibwe guides through the rapids of the St. Mary's River, an experience she described as one of the most exhilarating of her life.
- 03.Her 'Sacred and Legendary Art' series became a standard reference for Pre-Raphaelite painters, who consulted it when selecting and researching subjects drawn from Christian iconography.
- 04.She was closely acquainted with Ottilie von Goethe, daughter-in-law of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and used her European friendships to maintain connections with German intellectual and artistic life.
- 05.Jameson helped mentor the sculptor Harriet Hosmer and was an early champion of women artists working professionally in Europe, actively using her critical platform to publicize their work.