A Little Ladybird and Shackleton's Dog

 Often in researching my victims, I am blessed in information about their lives once they are exhibiting or even at school winning prizes, but rarely do I get an account of their childhood unless their parents were famous or something deeply tragic happens.  Well, today this is a bit of a mix of that as I am very lucky to have an account from the artist herself. Meet Mariquita Jenny Moberly...

Self Portrait (1918)

There are a few reasons that I chose Mariquita as today's subject, some are to do with frankly weird pictures of dogs and at least one is to do with that self portrait, which is magnificent. Let's start at the beginning...

Portrait of a Dachshund (no date)

By the way, unusually there will be lots of pictures for Mariquita, which makes how obscure she is even more puzzling but we'll come back to that. To the origins!

Maud (1890)

Mariquita Jenny Phillips was born on the 2nd November 1855 to John and Jane Phillips, who lived in Deptford in Greater London.  I must admit when I saw her name, I was expecting her to be Spanish, or at least something more exotic than Deptford (no offence Deptford). Nor are John and Jane particularly international, however John was secretary and shareholder for a Spanish and Mexican mining company which is possibly why they decided to call their eldest daughter a name that translates from the Spanish as 'Ladybird' (with thanks to this site). Mariquita was followed by Bevan John (1857-1912), Lawrence Charles (1859-1929), Arthur Waller (1862-1936) and finally Walter Alison (1864-1950).  The family were well off, living at Ham Villa (a villa entirely constructed of ham!) in Lewisham, with several servants including a nurse for the children in 1861.  Mariquita remembered her father, a keen amateur artist teaching her to copy and draw.  She spoke of being 5 years old and sitting with him drawing objects on a table, a lamp and her mother's key basket, with his 'firm steady simple line drawings' on one side and her shaky copy beside it. The family moved into the very splendid Mounthill, which had sweeping views over Epsom.  Then, all of a sudden in 1868, John died leaving Jane with five small children.  Her mother did the only sensible thing and moved them all to Germany.

Shelling Peas (no date)

Mariquita studied at home for a couple of years, but then, aged 15, she went to art school in Weimer, studying almost at once from life.  She attended the studio of Professor Friedrich Martersteig (1814-1899), then spent two years with Bertha Froriep (1833-1920), who did this rather Pre-Raphaelite Sleeping Beauty...

Sleeping Beauty (1864) Bertha Froriep

Mariquita was the sole pupil of Froriep and felt that she learned a lot from her (when she recounted the story of her early life in 1890 to the Lady's Pictorial).  Just before she returned to London aged 20, she spent some time with Ferdinand Schauss (1832-1916) at the Grand-Ducal Saxon Art School. Then the family returned.

A Young Woman (1886)

When back in London, Mariquita did not pause.  She studied intensely at the British Museum, drawing from the Antique for 6 months, and taking classes at South Kensington.  Further to that she spent 3 months in Paris, studying under Carolus-Duran (1837-1917) before she was ready to exhibit.

In the 1881 census, the Phillips family were back in Epsom, this time in South Street (handy for the Assembly Rooms/Wetherspoons) with her mother and brothers. Marquita was listed as an artist, and her brothers had become architects and solicitors. Also visiting the family was Herbert Moberly, a merchant from St Petersburg in Russia. Before we get overexcited about him being all exotic and foreign, again it's a false alarm, as, although he was born in Russia, his father Charles appears to have been a travelling merchant and his Mum came from Leeds.  The Moberly family seem to have moved to Lewisham just before Charles died, so I wonder if that is where Mariquita and Herbert met. Anyway, in 1884 the couple married in Epsom.  However, more importantly, in 1881 Mariquita made her artistic debut at a watercolour exhibition at the Dudley Gallery. Not to get on my soap box, but I have a real thing about female academics/artists/writers etc using only their initials, and as part of my other job I make a point of ensuring full names are recorded or else it's a sad fact that things tend to get credited to men.  I therefore find it interesting that the Lady's Pictorial of March 1881 celebrated the fact that 100 of the female artists exhibiting used their christian names in the catalogue because, as they said, 'it speaks well for the future position of ladies in art.' Preach, Lady's Pictorial! Mariquita was there with Marigolds which got a mention.

The Artist in the Garden (no date)

In 1884, she exhibited a picture of roots at the Society of Lady Artists which was her last outing under her maiden name. Her first painting at the Royal Academy was in 1885, entitled 'Annie' showing a girl in a low-necked dress in pale pink and grey striped satin against a grey-white background. She also exhibited at the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours with The Flight of Little Nell and her Grandfather from the Old Curiosity Shop, showing an elder man being led by a child through their shop surrounded by bric-a-brac and armour.

The Missing Hen (no date)

1886 brought a large watercolour entitled A Maiden of the Primrose League.  Now, as we discussed in my last post, the Primrose League was a conservative group, but this child wrapped up in brown velvet and fur is in the middle of a wood with a basket of primroses, so possibly is a play on words. I think recent times has rather set our teeth on edge when it comes to anything this overtly right wing, but looking at it in the whole, arguably this is a case of the more benign conservatism that used to exist with lots of 'christian' values, love of queen-and-country type malarky which would be very mainstream in nineteenth century England. Without getting too political, if you had money and/or a title in 1883 (when it was founded) I don't think it is particularly deep or sinister to be in the Primrose League. I also wonder if the iconography of primroses at this time just denoted 'traditional values.' My apologies for so many speech marks, but I often find that people who tell you that they are a thing are unlikely to be it - so if you say you stand for traditional christian values I am very clear that you don't. If you have to tell me it, it is not likely to be self-evident. Like men who tell me they are feminists. Sorry, I digress.

The Lesson (no date)

The Primrose Maiden made its way around England, cropping up in Liverpool and Birmingham before pottering over to Melbourne for the Centenary Exhibition in 1889. Mariquita returned to the Royal Academy in 1888 with two literary-based works - Lorna Doone and Martha Hilton.  Lorna Doone got a fair amount of attention as the female figure was clothed in white satin against a backdrop of crimson velvet curtains, one of which she held.  Martha Hilton, a character from Longfellow's 'Lady Wentworth' was a happy, careless girl carrying a bucket of water.  This painting not only was at the RA, but also was seen in Liverpool and in Dresden the following year.

View from a Winter Window (no date)

1887 had Jealousy one of her first animal-based works, which proved popular for its subject which reminded me of the stuff by Briton Riviere and the ilk.  A little girl tries to work at her desk but is interrupted by her little dog, which all sounds very commercial and delightful. By this time, the Moberlys were settled into married life at 24 Abercorn Place, just round the corner from the Abbey Road Studios.  It's a beautiful, tall, white building and seems huge for the two of them and their servant.  Mariquita also had a studio, 1 Cheniston Gardens, pictured here...

I love the terrarium.  By the two paintings on the easels, I'm supposing that Mariquita wished to be known for her figure paintings, if not just her portraits, which I have read was the side of the business to get into as it guaranteed sales if you were good. In 1890, just such a portrait appeared at the RA - Ellen, daughter of Edwin Waterhouse Esq. Edwin Waterhouse was a wealthy accountant, one of the founders of Price Waterhouse and this would have been his daughter Ellen Penelope Mary Waterhouse (1880-1944) aged 10.  The year also saw the profile of her published in the Lady's Pictorial, calling her a 'clever artist' and frequent flyer at the RA. They also covered her painting Meadowsweet when it arrived at the Grosvenor Gallery in May.

1891 saw A Lesson in Patience at the Royal Academy, which I'm going to guess might have also been dog-related. The following year, at the Royal Institute of Water-Colours, she exhibited a painting of Ruskin's Study at Brantwood.  I thought 'Oh, I've seen this!' but actually everyone seems to have painted that room, so no, I hadn't seen Mariquita's rendition. To be honest, although all the pictures of the study are nice, I'm not sure it warranted that much attention, certainly not in 1882.

Once Upon a Time (1893)

In 1893, Mariquita was back at the RA with a watercolour entitled Nut Brown Hair.  She was also at the Institute of Oils with Little Ellie and Once Upon a Time which shows a little girl immersed in a book of fairy stories. At the Bradford Art Exhibition in April, she won a highly commended for her oil painting 'What Are You Laughing At?' In 1894 she was back at the RA with another Longfellow-inspired piece, 'Fair was she as she passed with her chaplet of beads and her missal.' With such a lengthy title and poetic subject, I expected the papers and the Lady's Pictorial did not let me down...

Please excuse the bad quality, but I was impressed to find an illustration. The Queen magazine also mentioned Mariquita in their review of the Dudley Gallery Art Society show, where she had the Anxious Mother, a painting of a little girl with her cat and its kittens. The Lady's Pictorial also had an image of The Miller's Daughter which was so dark that I don't include it here, but appears to be a girl stood by a mill stream, pensively, and I'm going to guess it is drawn from Tennyson. Also mentioned in a review of an exhibition in York was Hush! which shows a young girl nursing her pet dog.

In 1895, Mariquita brought us On the Threshold of the Unknown, with a bride pausing in a doorway, exhibited at the Dudley Gallery, which also might be the same painting mentioned by the Gentlewoman as exhibited in the Society of Lady Artists show, simply described as a lovely picture of a young woman in white satin. The same year, auctioneers Higgins and Son advertised an upcoming sale of the works of Mariquita and Miss H Franck at Miss Franck's studio in St John's Wood, including watercolours, oils and drawings.

Lady with a Quetzal (1896)

In 1896, Mariquita  seems to have exhibited Ruskin's Study again, as well as Hush!  and showing The King's Youngest Daughter at the Society of Lady Artists. There was a short piece in the Midland Counties Express about Mariquita's childhood and education, listing that to date she had exhibited 114 pictures and had many of them illustrated in journals - 'All of her works are marked with good taste.' It also revealed that her husband, Herbert, was a keen photographer and member of the Royal Photographic Society (although I can't find any of his photographs, unfortunately).

In 1897, she showed a piece inspired by Browning's 'The Flight of the Duchess' - For it was Life Her Eyes were Drinking at the Royal Hibernian Academy but that appears to be it. 1898 however she was back at the RA with two paintings, Thistledown and Springtime. The only thing I know about Thistledown is that it was donated to the Russell-Cotes in 1933 by Mariquita, but was disposed of sometime later when people didn't like Victorian art, which is a shame. Springtime seems to be a similar picture if the description is anything to go by as it shows children surrounded by blue and white hyacinths, this time in a wood. The same year Mariquita was still exhibiting the picture of Ruskin's study! Blimey, how exciting was that study?!

Best Friends (1897)

As we approach the turn of the century, Mariquita appeared once more at the Dudley with two paintings, A Breton Loom and the more intriguing Unsuspected Witnesses whish was described in The Queen as 'a rather amusing scene, in which two children are watching from a distance a young man saying pretty things to his sweetheart.' She also seems to have taken The King's Youngest Daughter up to the exhibition at York. I have noticed that Mariquita seems to exhibit a lot, and is not afraid of using the same painting over and over at different venues, which is completely fine, but I don't think I have ever noticed an artist do it quite so much. By 1899, I think there were otherwise undiscovered tribes in the Amazon who had seen her painting of Ruskin's study because it had got about so much.

June Roses (1900)

1900 arrived and with it an address change, as she gives Ravensbury Gardens in Mitcham as her address at the RA this year. Hanging near the entrance doorway to the First Gallery was Mariquita's November described in the newspapers as a 'sylvan landscape.' In the autumn at Derby, she exhibited Treasure Trove, a life-like picture of a young flower seller which seems to have been displayed in the same room as Waterhouse's La Belle Dame Sans Merci - I always find it interesting to see what pictures are near each other and in that way I loved the display of pictures chronologically at Tate Britain, however inconvenient it made seeing all the pictures by the Pre-Raphs. I wonder if that is the same picture as June Roses? Picture titles can be so elastic.

Young Woman Reading (undated)

1901 saw a solo exhibition at Walker's Art Gallery in Bond Street of paintings, drawings, studies and sketches and it was praised in The Queen as showing the diversity of her talents in the different subjects she approached. She also took Springtime to the Dudley Gallery for another airing. In 1902 at the Dudley, she exhibited a study of an Amaryllis and at the Society of Women Artists she showed Loves Idyll with lovers walking beneath chestnut trees with the lights dappling down in different colours.  She also took Treasure Trove off to the Royal Academy.

In 1903's Royal Academy, Mariquita had two canvases; firstly, a sweet picture of little girls in a meadow, A Fairy Tale which was illustrated in the newspapers but to be honest I am more intrigued by her other entry The Magic Brook: "Who drinks of me will become a white roe," which The Queen  described as being rather fanciful with people, animals and landscape all vying for attention.

I'm puzzled by the absolute silence around her in 1904 as even when she wasn't in the RA, Mariquita always had something going on but no, nothing. 1905 saw another solo exhibition at Walker's Gallery in Bond Street. She was also praised for her work at the Autumn exhibition at Brighton, where her study of children was placed in a prominent position and was felt worthy of it.

The Secret Path (1906)

Despite having The Secret Path in the 1906 Royal Academy, it went by without notice.  All attention for the year went to her painting The Rosary which was exhibited in November in the Modern Gallery. This was a three quarter length portrait of a beautiful young woman in a brilliant green gown, gazing away in thought. The mentions of her work begin to slow down as her entries into the RA slow. 1907 brought Trust, a painting of terriers displayed at the Cheltenham and County Fine Art Exhibition. We have to wait until 1910 for another Royal Academy, and that was with The Motor Veil.  Now, I don't know what I imagined that would be, possibly some grand sci-fi epic and the fact I couldn't find the painting just fired up my imagination, so I Googled 'Motor Veil' and was maybe a little disappointed to find it just meant one of these...

 

I definitely need my Motor Veil Problem (TM) solved immediately! Sadly, no sign of the painting.

The Duet (1912)

In 1911 Mariquita exhibited The Old Floor Cloth Factory at the Royal Water-Colour Society, followed  in 1912 by The Duet showing a little girl and dog playing the piano and Night in Venice at the Modern Gallery. 1913 saw Off to the Front which made me nervous but I think it is just a portrait of children at the seaside (I hope). She also had a vivid painting Kingfisher Blue which was much admired, together with an RA entry, On the Staircase.  Interestingly, she gave a talk to the English Goethe Society about the old Goethe House where her mother and siblings all lived when they went to Weimer after her father's death. She knew Goethe's daughter-in-law well, and Goethe's grandchildren gave her some of the writer's relics and she drew the interior of the house.

Mentions really slow down now. In 1914 she had West Looe, Cornwall at the Alpine Club's Spring Show. Her last RA outing was in 1920 with In the Workshop which had no mentions in the press. In 1922, she held an exhibition of her work at her Ravensbury Gardens Studio in October. In 1925, in Derby she had another dog painting, this time The Ragamuffin's Forty Winks showing, as the paper reported, the sort of dog 'who walks into your heart and stays there.'  Finally, at the Royal Institute in 1928, she showed some flower paintings. In 1921, Herbert and Mariquita were visiting people in Lyme Regis, both now in their 60s, Herbert a retired bank manager and Mariquita, an artist. Herbert died in 1931.  She followed him on 1st November 1937, the day before her 82nd birthday, leaving over £18K.

The Flight of Nicolette (no date)

The problem I have with Mariquita is that, other than the two paintings at the Russell-Cotes (now only one), it's hard to match pictures to the titles and descriptions in the newspapers.  I was grateful for the couple of occasions that the newspapers reproduced an illustration, however bad. We have a fair number of pictures available online, but most without dates.  A specific case of this is Shackleton's dog...

This was up for auction on a few sites, but without date that I could see.  Mariquita became known for her animal paintings and I'm going to guess this was from the 1910s, because it is possible that there were no better-known dog painters around then - Maud Earl went to New York in 1916 and Briton Riviere was very elderly by that point. This occurred possibly during the pause between expeditions, or maybe as a tribute to the dogs of the Endurance.  Possibly with hindsight, I find her picture of the dog almost too filled with pathos to look at comfortably.

Anyway, in conclusion, this was a tricky post as there is both a lot of information and a lack.  Mercifully, the Lady's Pictorial was backing her all the way and the little review of her career they did in 1890 was very helpful, but I would like to know and see more of her work and work out exactly where she fits into the nineteenth and twentieth century's story of art. I want to see the red curtains of Lorna Doone and I want to know when she painted The Flight of Nicolette and hopefully, with time, we will know more about the little ladybird and her wonderful career.