Pink Roses & Social Change

New this week we have a pair of floral still life oils dating from 1898 in a very en vogue palette of soft earthen pinks and browns. But timeless is the story they tell about the beginnings of women's education and employment in late 19th-century Ireland. They are the work of Stoke-on-Trent-trained porcelain artist Herbert Cooper (1842–1916), who was the professor in charge at the Queen’s Institute in Dublin. Established by Quaker educationalist Anne Jellicoe in 1861 at 25 Molesworth Street (now Buswell's Hotel), the Institute was the first technical college for women in Europe, founded on the radical concept that young women should be not only trained in practical arts but afforded a vocation that would enable them to work for an independent wage.

Images: 3) Service decorated by Herbert Cooper 4) Service decorated at the Queen's Institute (National Museum of Ireland); 5) Buswell's Hotel, 25 Molesworth Street, Dublin & Plaque to Anne Jellicoe in Buswells Hotel

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