Phoebe Anna Traquair - Illustrator
Leading Female Artist of the Scottish Arts and Crafts Movement
Phoebe Anna Traquair, leading female artist of Scottish Arts and Crafts Movement, is renowned for embroidery, manuscript illustration, enamelwork, jewellery and murals.
Her Early Life
Phoebe Anna Traquair (née Moss) was born in Ireland in 1852, the sixth of seven children born to William Moss, surgeon, and his wife Teresa. Traquair studied at the School of Design of the Royal Dublin Society from 1869 to 1872 during which time she was asked to create sketches of fossil fish for palaeontologist J. Ramsay Traquair (1840-1912) whom she married in 1873. The Traquairs moved to Scotland in 1874 when her husband was appointed Keeper of Natural History at Edinburgh's Museum of Science and Art.
Traquair was influenced by the romanticised female figures of the earlier Pre-Raphaelites and also by medieval imagery and Celtic mythology. She produced some exquisite jewellery and enamelwork as well as fine embroideries, manuscripts and magnificent murals.
Recognition as a Major Artist
Traquair received national acclaim with her illustration of the Song School of St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh. The illustration of the Benedicite Omnia Opera, a canticle used in Anglican or Lutheran liturgy, was started in 1888 and took four years to complete.
A 'Sistine Chapel’ for Edinburgh
She painted the interiors of a number of churches in England and Scotland including the chancel of the Catholic Apostolic Church, East London Street, Edinburgh (1893–1901), which is also known as ‘Edinburgh’s Sistine Chapel’. The church, no longer a place of worship, is home to the Mansfield Traquair Trust established in 1993 to preserve the building together with Traquair's murals. She also painted the murals in the choir of the Church of St. Peter at Clayworth, Nottinghamshire. These murals, the largest single work of art in the East of England, cover all four walls of the Church.
Fine Embroidery
Embroidery was another of her favourite activities and The Progress of a Soul (1893–1902) can be seen at the National Galleries of Scotland. This silk-embroidered panel showing the journey of the human spirit through life is one of a series of four.
Illuminated Manuscripts
Traquair illuminated several important manuscripts including Alfred Lord Tennyson's In Memoriam, Robert Browning's Saul, Defence of Guinevere and The Song of Solomon by William Morris, The House of Life by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
Sonnets from the Portuguese is a beautiful manuscript in which Traquair recreated the sonnets of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The life of Mrs Browning has been explored by both Megan Drummond and Susan Jensen. In Traquair's manuscript, in the collection of the National Library of Scotland, each folio has exquisite border decorations echoing the medieval art that so inspired her. Each page is a work of art in its own right. Sonnet No. 1, I thought how once Theocritus had sung, and Sonnet 43 are especially beautiful. Sonnet 43, entitled How Do I Love Thee, has been analysed by Linda Sue Grimes.
International Exhibitions
Traquair exhibited her work internationally and was well-regarded in the United States where she was invited to exhibit at the 1893 World Fair in Chicago. In 1904 The Progress of a Soul was shown in St. Louis.
Royal Scottish Academy - Membership Refused
Because she refused to accept traditional boundaries of "'fine" and '"applied" art she was refused membership of the Royal Scottish Academy, and it was not until 1920 that she was elected an honorary member.
Phoebe Traquair died in Edinburgh on 4 August 1936 and was buried at Colinton parish church.
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