Anna Blunden

[1] She was a member of John Ruskin's circle and was one of a number of women artists working and exhibiting during the Victorian age.

Her parents were bookbinders, who moved to start a business making straw hats and silk flowers in Exeter (c.1833).

Her paintings demonstrated a desire to depict modern subjects, for example The Seamstress (1843) and A Scene from Uncle Tom's Cabin (1853).

The subject of The Seamstress is overworked needlewomen working in tiny rooms to produce finely sewn clothes for the upper and middle classes.

The painting explored the topic of exploitative conditions of women in clothing trades and factories.