Julia Mary Cartwright Ady (7 November 1851 – 28 April 1924) was a British historian and art critic whose work focused on the

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( ) was a period in History of Italy, Italian history between the 14th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Western Europe and marked t ...

Early life

Cartwright Ady was born at

Edgcote Edgcote is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Chipping Warden and Edgcote, in the West Northamptonshire district, in the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England. It is situated on the River Cherwell. The parish was ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

, into a respected Northamptonshire family, the daughter of Richard Aubrey Cartwright and Hon Mary Fremantle, daughter of

Thomas Fremantle, 1st Baron Cottesloe Thomas Francis Fremantle, 1st Baron Cottesloe, 2nd Baron Fremantle, (11 March 1798 – 3 December 1890), known as Sir Thomas Fremantle, Bt, between 1821 and 1874, was a British Tory politician. Early life Cottesloe was the eldest son of Ad ...

. She had a liberal Anglican upbringing and was home-schooled in art, literature, languages, dance and music. Cartwright Ady developed a fascination with art early on, particularly of the Italian Renaissance. Her cousin

William Cornwallis Cartwright William Cornwallis Cartwright (24 November 1825 – 8 November 1915) was an art collector, author and a Liberal Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1868 to 1885 Biography Cartwright was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Cartwright, ...

was an art collector and supporter of the Italian Risorgimento, and Cartwright Ady regularly visited his house at

Aynhoe Park Aynhoe Park (alternately known as Aynho Park) is a 17th-century country estate consisting of land and buildings that were rebuilt after the English Civil War on the southern edge of the stone-built village of Aynho, Northamptonshire, England. It ...

where she had her first exposure to works of the Old Masters. Her cousin's collection included paintings by Murillo, Canaletto, Spagnoletto and Albano. Cartwright Ady read widely from a young age, covering historical Italian texts, contemporary fiction and current British art publications. She greatly admired the poetry of

Robert Browning Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian literature, Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentar ...

and his collection ''Men and Women'' (1855) with its poems ‘

Fra Filippo Lippi Filippo Lippi ( – 8 October 1469), also known as Lippo Lippi, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Quattrocento (fifteenth century) and a Carmelite priest. He was an early Renaissance master of a painting workshop, who taught many paint ...

’ and ‘ Andrea del Sarto’, which, inspired by Italian Renaissance painters, had a substantial influence on her. She was also an avid reader of

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English polymath a writer, lecturer, art historian, art critic, draughtsman and philanthropist of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as art, architecture, Critique of politic ...

George Eliot Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wrot ...

and early Italian writing and poetry such as by

Savonarola Savonarola is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Girolamo Savonarola (1452–1498), Italian Dominican friar and reformer * Michele Savonarola (1385–), Italian physician, humanist and historian {{Surname, 2=Italian-la ...

and

Torquato Tasso Torquato Tasso ( , also , ; 11 March 154425 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1591 poem ''Gerusalemme liberata'' (Jerusalem Delivered), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between ...

. In 1868, she toured France, Austria, and Italy with her family.Dictionary of Art Historians Julia Cartwright Ady
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Art criticism and publications

Cartwright Ady was a respected author and authority on art who wrote for leading art periodicals and published 23 books on art and history. In 1871, Cartwright Ady contributed an article in '' Aunt Judy's Magazine'', and also wrote for the '' Monthly Packet'', and for a series of "The Lives of the Saints". She read works on Renaissance art, including those of

Anna Jameson Anna Brownell Jameson (17 May 179417 March 1860) was an Anglo-Irish art historian whose work spanned art and literary criticism, philosophy, travel writing, and feminism. She became very well known for her extensive writings. Jameson was conn ...

Charles Lock Eastlake Sir Charles Lock Eastlake (17 November 1793 – 24 December 1865) was a British Painting, painter, gallery director, collector and writer of the 19th century. After a period as Curator#Collections curator, keeper, he was the first director of ...

Walter Pater Walter Horatio Pater (4 August 1839 – 30 July 1894) was an English essayist, Art critic, art and literary critic, and fiction writer, regarded as one of the great stylists. His first and most often reprinted book, ''Studies in the History of t ...

, and particularly the ''New History of Painting in Italy'' by Joseph Archer Crowe and

Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle (22 January 1819 – 31 October 1897) was an Italian writer and art critic, best known as part of "Crowe and Cavalcaselle", for the many works in English on art history he co-authored with Joseph Archer Crowe. ...

. In 1873, Cartwright Ady submitted an article on

Giotto Giotto di Bondone (; – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto, was an List of Italian painters, Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the International Gothic, Gothic and Italian Ren ...

to ''Macmillan's Magazine'', which was turned down at the time, but appeared in the ''New Quarterly'' in 1877. Cartwright continued to write art criticism for journals such as ''The Portfolio'' and the ''Magazine of Art''. She visited Italy at least three times in the 1870s and on one of these occasions met Rev William Henry Ady whom she persuaded to take up the post of rector at

and married in 1880. In 1881, Cartwright Ady published her first art historical monograph, '' Mantegna and Francia'', and later wrote books on

Sandro Botticelli Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), better known as Sandro Botticelli ( ; ) or simply known as Botticelli, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 1 ...

and

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...

. Cartwright Ady's most celebrated books were her biographies of

Isabella d'Este Isabella d'Este (19 May 1474 – 13 February 1539) was the Marchioness of Mantua and one of the leading women of the Italian Renaissance as a major cultural and political figure. She was a patron of the arts as well as a leader of fashion ...

, the Renaissance art patron, and her younger sister,

Beatrice d'Este Beatrice d'Este (29 June 1475 – 3 January 1497) a noblewoman from Duchy of Ferrara, Ferrara, duchess of Bari and Milan by her marriage to Ludovico Sforza (known as "Ludovico il Moro"). She was known as a woman of culture, an important patron ...

, Cartwright Ady highlighted the lives of women in other writings, including books on Dorothy Sidney, mistress of Edmund Waller, Henrietta, Duchess of Orléans, sister of Charles II,

Baldassare Castiglione Baldassare Castiglione, Count of Casatico (; 6 December 1478 – 2 February 1529),Dates of birth and death, and cause of the latter, fro, ''Italica'', Rai International online. was an Italian courtier, diplomat, soldier and a prominent Renaissan ...

and

Christina of Denmark Christina of Denmark (; November 1521 – 10 December 1590) was a Denmark, Danish princess, the younger surviving daughter of Christian II, King Christian II of Denmark and Norway and Isabella of Austria. By her two marriages, she became List ...

, the art-loving Danish expatriate. In 1901, she published ''The Painters of Florence from the Thirteenth to the Sixteenth Centuries'' and in 1914, ''The Italian Gardens of the Renaissance and other Studies''. Cartwright Ady also contributed to the scholarship of 19th-century art, including a book on the life of

Jean-François Millet Jean-François Millet (; 4 October 1814 – 20 January 1875) was a French artist and one of the founders of the Barbizon school in rural France. Millet is noted for his paintings of peasant farmers and can be categorized as part of the Realis ...

and writings on James Mallord William Turner,

Edwin Landseer Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (7 March 1802 – 1 October 1873) was an English painter and sculptor, well known for his paintings of animals – particularly horses, dogs, and stags. His best-known work is the lion sculptures at the base of Nelso ...

, James Abbot McNeil Whistler and the

Pre-Raphaelites The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB), later known as the Pre-Raphaelites, was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti ...

Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti ( ; ), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator, and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brother ...

, and

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August 183317 June 1898) was an English painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's style and subject matter. Burne-Jones worked with William Morris as a founding part ...

. She was positive about some forms of modern art, but was shocked by the 1912

Post-Impressionist Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction a ...

exhibition mounted by

Roger Fry Roger Eliot Fry (14 December 1866 – 9 September 1934) was an English painter and art critic, critic, and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Establishing his reputation as a scholar of the Old Masters, he became an advocate of more recent ...

at the

Grafton Galleries The Grafton Galleries, often referred to as the Grafton Gallery, was an art gallery in Mayfair, London. The French art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel showed the first major exhibition in Britain of Impressionist paintings there in 1905. Roger Fry's t ...

. Her art criticism was influenced by

and the connoisseurship of

Giovanni Morelli Giovanni Morelli (25 February 1816 – 28 February 1891) was an Italian art critic and political figure. As an art historian, he developed the "Morellian" technique of scholarship, identifying the characteristic "hands" of painters through ...

, and her friendship with the writer and art author

Vernon Lee Vernon Lee was the pseudonym of the French-born British writer Violet Paget (14 October 1856 – 13 February 1935). She is remembered today primarily for her supernatural fiction and her work on aesthetics. An early follower of Walter Pater, ...

Personal life

After her husband's death in 1915, Cartwright Ady moved to Oxford and died there in 1924. Her daughter, Cecilia Ady (1881–1958) was also a Renaissance historian.Benjamin G. Kohl, ‘Ady, Cecilia Mary (1881–1958)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Oct 200
accessed 13 Nov 2016
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Publications

* ''Mantegna and Francia''. London: Sampson Low & Co., 1881. * ''The Pilgrims' Way from Winchester to Canterbury ... With forty-six illustrations by A. Quinton''. London: J. S. Virtue & Co., 1893. * ''Sacharissa; some account of Dorothy Sidney, Countess of Sunderland, her family and friends, 1617-1684''. London: Seeley & Co., 1893. * ''Jules Bastien-Lepage''. London: Seeley and Co., Limited; New York: Macmillan and Co., 1894. * ''Madame. A life of Henrietta, daughter of Charles I. and Duchess of Orleans''. London: Seeley & Co., 1894. * ''Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Bart. His life & work.'' London: J. S. Virtue & Co., 1894. * ''The Early Work of Raphael.'' London: Seeley and Co., Limited; New York: Macmillan and Co., 1895. * ''Raphael in Rome.'' London: Seeley and Co., Limited; New York: Macmillan and Co., 1895. * ''G. F. Watts, Royal Academician. His life & work.'' London: J. S. Virtue & Co., 1896. * ''Jean François Millet. His life and letters.'' London: S. Sonnenschein & Co., 1896. * ''Christ & His Mother in Italian Art.'' Edited by J. Cartwright ... With an introduction by Robert Eyton. L.P., London: Bliss, Sands & Co., 1897. * ''Beatrice d'Este, Duchess of Milan, 1475-1497. A study of the Renaissance.'' London: J. M. Dent & Co., 1899. * ''The Painters of Florence from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century.'' London: John Murray, 1901. * ''Isabella d'Este, Marchioness of Mantua, 1474-1539; a study of the Renaissance''. London: John Murray, 1903. * ''The Life and Art of Sandro Botticelli.'' London: Duckworth & Co., 1904. * ''Raphael.'' London: Duckworth & Co.; New York: E. P. Dutton & co., 1905. * ''Baldassare Castiglione the perfect courtier, his life and letters, 1478-1529.'' London: John Murray, 1908. * ''Hampton Court.'' London: Wells Gardner & Co., 1910. * '' Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan and Lorraine, 1522-1590.'' London: John Murray, 1913. * ''Italian Gardens of the Renaissance, and Other Studies.'' London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1914.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ady, Julia Cartwright 1851 births 1924 deaths English art historians British women art historians People from Northamptonshire