Along with her niece Eloise Harriet Stannard, she is considered to be the most accomplished British female still life artist of the 19th century.

In 1820, she travelled with her father Daniel Coppin to the Netherlands to study the paintings of Jan van Huysum and other Dutch masters, an episode which influenced her artistic style.

Her works were favourably received by the local press during her lifetime, and in recent decades, art historians have praised the highly finished appearance of her paintings and her use of colour.

[10] Members of the Stannard family showed their pictures at the Society's exhibitions, but they had few other artistic connections with their Norwich contemporaries.

[15][16] During her visit, she obtained permission to copy paintings by the Dutch Master Jan van Huysum at Trippon House, Amsterdam, and her work was praised for its accuracy.

There, according to her obituary, "she complied with the conditions laid down by showing two specimens of her painting, the President of the Amsterdam Gallery, Mons.

[22] The marriage was short-lived, for Joseph Stannard died of tuberculosis in 1830 at the age of thirty-three, despite the efforts of his wife, who tried many doctors and treatments in an attempt to save him.

[25] Stannard lived as an artist and a teacher in Norwich for over 50 years, during which time her paintings received favourable reviews in the press.

[15] During Stannard's artistic career, which continued until shortly before her death, she depicted flower bouquets in vases and other traditional still life paintings of tableware, fruit or game animals, in front of plain backgrounds.

"[34] Her obituary appeared in the local press the week following her death, mentioning that "Mrs. Stannard had a great artistic merit, was a very clever painter of fruit, flowers, fish, game, and still life, and her pictures have always been highly esteemed by lovers of art", and describing "her kindly, gentle, modest, and simple nature (which) endeared her to all who had the pleasure of her acquaintance".

[23] According to the art historian and author Josephine Walpole, the quality of Stannard's flower paintings display a "natural talent" and "impeccable colour sense".

[13] The historian Derek Clifford noted that she “did not appear to have been an inventive artist”, but added that he thought she deserved fame.

[4] According to Moore, Stannard's technique strengthened to become highly finished in the years after her husband's and became typically “less mannered” in the 1840s and 1850s; her only rivals were the Norwich born James Sillett, and his daughter Emma.