The Artist with her Mother Artist

Rolinda Sharples  "Self-Portrait with Mother" 1814 Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, Bristol, UK

Rolinda Sharples  (1793–1838) was born in England, emigrated to the United States with her family as a young child, and then moved back to the mother country after the death of her father in 1811. Sharples' parents and three brothers were all professional artists. Her mother pictured above was the artist Ellen Wallace Sharples (1769-1849) (who had perhaps even a more fascinating personal history than her daughter!)

Rolinda Sharples was one of the first female British artists to attempt multi-figure compositions, and one of her best known works in that genre, Clifton Assembly Rooms (1817), is often seen on covers of Regency-era novels such as those by Jane Austen.