Biography

Pryde grew up in the centre of Edinburgh’s artistic, literary and theatrical circles. Aged seventeen, she enrolled at Hubert von Herkomer’s art school in Bushey, where she met William Nicholson. They married in 1893, and their children, Ben, Tony, Nancy and Kit, were born between 1894 and 1904. Pryde painted as her domestic responsibilities permitted; these included frequent moves with the family sometimes maintaining homes in both London and in the country. She was very close to all her children – they appear frequently in her work and she was insistent about paying them a small fee to model. Pryde’s career was short and during her lifetime her reputation was overshadowed by that of her successful husband. She died in 1918 aged forty-seven, a victim of the Spanish influenza epidemic.