Eastlake, Elizabeth

CRITIC, BIOGRAPHER, GRAPHICAL ARTIST, LINGUIST, ART HISTORIAN (ENGLAND)
BORN 17 Nov 1809, Norwich, Norfolk - DIED 2 Oct 1893, London
BIRTH NAME Rigby, Elizabeth
GRAVE LOCATION London: Kensal Green Cemetery, Harrow Road, Kensal Green (125/PS (19540))

Daughter of Dr. Edward Rigby from Norwich, who was a writer on medical and agricultural subjects. In 1836 she wrote an article on Goethe for the Foreign Quarterly Review and in 1841 she published "A Residence On The Shores Of The Baltic". From 1842 onwards she wrote for the Quarterly Review, denouncing "Jane Eyre" as 'vulgar'. She also authored novels, books on art and biographies and she translated Gustav Waagen's "Treasures of Art in Great Britain".

In 1849 she married the painter Charles Eastlake. Together they were the centre of what was called the 'Eastlake Circle', a social group of artists and intellectuals.

In old age she was still highly critical, describing the Rossetti Exhibition in London in 1883 as 'horrors, without a single merit' (Rossetti had died in 1882). Many of her drawings are now in posession of the Tate Gallery, London.

Works: "Lady Travellers" (1845); "Livonian Tales" (1846); "The Jewess" (1848).

Family
• Husband: Eastlake, Charles Lock (1849-1865, Edingburgh: St. John's Church)

Related persons
• criticized Brontė, Anne
• criticized Rossetti, Dante Gabriel

Images

The grave of Charles Eastlake and Elizabeth Eastlake at Kensal Green Cemetery, London.
Picture by androom (14 Aug 1997)

 

Sources
• Browning, D.C. (editor), Dictionary of Literary biography, Dent, London, 1958


Easton, John Murray

Published: 01 Jan 2006
Last update: 25 Apr 2022