Ella Du Cane (1874-1943) was a British artist best known for her watercolors of landscapes and exotic locales.

Early life

Ella Mary Du Cane was the third and youngest daughter of politician and colonial administrator Sir

Charles Du Cane Sir Charles Du Cane (5 December 1825 – 25 February 1889) was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician and colonial administrator who was a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament between 1852 and 18 ...

and his wife, Georgiana Susan Copley. Through her mother, she was the great-granddaughter of the artist,

John Singleton Copley John Singleton Copley (July 3, 1738 – September 9, 1815) was an Anglo-American painter, active in both colonial America and England. He was believed to be born in Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay, to Richard and Mary Singleton Copley ...

. She was born in

Hobart, Tasmania Hobart ( ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent (Tasmania), River Derwent, it is the southernmo ...

in the last year of her father's five-year term as

Governor of Tasmania The governor of Tasmania is the representative in the Australian state of Tasmania of the monarch, currently King Charles III. The incumbent governor is Barbara Baker, who was appointed in June 2021. The official residence of the governor is Gov ...

, shortly before the family returned to their country house at

Braxted Park Braxted Park, formerly called Braxted Lodge, is a country house in the Queen Anne style set in a landscaped 2,000 acre park near the village of Great Braxted, Essex. In the Domesday Book of 1086, Eudo Dapifer is shown as owner of the manor. All ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

. In Essex, Charles was made a

Knight Commander Knight Commander (or Dame Commander) is the second most senior grade of seven British orders of chivalry, three of which are dormant (and one of them continues as a German house order). The rank entails admission into knighthood, allowing the rec ...

of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

and served as Chairman of the

Board of Customs HM Customs (His or Her Majesty's Customs) was the national Customs service of England (and then of Great Britain from 1707, the United Kingdom from 1801) until a merger with the Department of Excise in 1909. The phrase 'HM Customs', in use si ...

. Her sister Florence was born in 1869. Ella made watercolor paintings and Florence was a writer. After their father died in 1889 they decided that they would travel the world unchaperoned. They visited China, Japan, Egypt, the Canary Islands and Madeira.Mark Griffiths.
The Lotus Quest: In Search of the Sacred Flower
'. St. Martin's Press; 6 July 2010. . p. 93.

Career

Ella Du Cane came into artistic prominence in 1893 when she exhibited at an exhibition of the prestigious New Society of Painters in Water Colours.

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

took a personal interest in her work, acquiring 26 of Du Cane's works between December 1895 and August 1898. With success came opportunities for travel. A 1902 exhibition of water color drawings of the West Indies was followed in 1904 by a show of pictures of Japan. In 1905 Du Cane was hired by

A & C Black A & C Black is a British book publishing company, owned since 2002 by Bloomsbury Publishing. The company is noted for publishing ''Who's Who'' since 1849 and the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' between 1827 and 1903. It offers a wide variety of boo ...

to provide illustrations for ''The Italian Lakes'' (1905), with descriptions by Richard Bagot. The company also used several of her Japan pictures in a book by

John Finnemore John David Finnemore (born 28 September 1977) is a British comedy writer and actor. He wrote and performed in the radio series '' Cabin Pressure'', '' John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme'', and '' John Finnemore's Double Acts'', and frequent ...

. Building on her success, Du Cane arranged with Black to do a book on Japanese gardens with text written by her sister, Florence, a book released in 1908 as ''The Flowers and Gardens of Japan''. The following year, the sisters' second book, ''The Flowers and Gardens of Madeira'' appeared. In later years, Ella continued to travel and paint, and never married. She continued to live with her mother and sister in Essex, the family moving to an estate called Mountains, on a hillside site near

Maldon Maldon (, locally ) is a town and civil parish on the Blackwater Estuary in Essex, England. It is the seat of the Maldon District and starting point of the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation. It is known for Maldon Sea Salt which is prod ...

, after selling

in 1919. Ella Du Cane died of unknown causes on 25 November 1943 at Mountains. She is buried with her sisters at All Saints Church,

Great Braxted Great Braxted is a village between Great Totham and Tiptree in Essex, England. The population as of the 2011 census was 130. The local manor house is known as Braxted Park. The medieval All Saints' church is contained within its 2,000-acre estat ...

.Redfoot 56.

Works

File:El Japón pg 1.jpg File:El Japón pg 25.jpg File:El Japón pg 56.jpg File:El Japón pg 8.jpg File:El Japón pg 41.jpg File:El Japón pg 105.jpg File:El Japón pg 65.jpg File:El Japón pg 76.jpg File:El Japón pg 36.jpg File:El Japón pg 81.jpg File:El pabellón de las mil campanitas.jpg

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Du Cane, Ella 1874 births 1943 deaths 19th-century English painters 20th-century English painters English illustrators English watercolourists British women watercolourists 20th-century British women painters 19th-century British women painters

Early life

Career

Works

References

Further reading

External links