This new edition is a fully updated and expanded account of the definitive study of Phoebe Anna Traquair. The compelling story of the life and career of Phoebe Anna Traquair, a leading figure in Britain’s Arts and Crafts movement.

Featuring new research about her artistic practice, materials and technique as well as her intellectual life, including her correspondence with John Ruskin. Her total commitment to the place of art in her daily life is revealed alongside new details on her family and social life.

Traquair was remarkable for her openness to all types of art, and worked in a range of media including embroidery, enamels, illuminated manuscripts and murals. This new edition features 120 illustrations, including new discoveries as well as some of her most famous and best-loved works.

Beautifully illustrated and featuring the artist’s own words, this book is at once a fascinating biography and an artistic study of one of Scotland’s first professional women artists.

Phoebe Anna Traquair (1852–1936) was a significant and important figure in British art. She contributed widely to the Arts and Crafts movement and was one of the first women artists in Scotland to achieve professional recognition.

About the author: Elizabeth Cumming is a historian of Scottish art and design and an Honorary Professor at the University of Edinburgh. She is the recognised authority on Phoebe Anna Traquair, having curated the 1993 Scottish National Portrait Gallery exhibition on the artist, and has published extensively on her life and works.