Jane Benham Hay

She was loosely associated with two important artistic movements of the mid-19th century: the Pre-Raphaelite painters of Britain and the Macchiaioli of Italy.

Undeterred, they approached Wilhelm von Kaulbach, then Director of the academy, and requested the privilege of private study in his studio.

There she compiled her diary and personal letters into a text, An Art Student in Munich, which was published in 1853 and reissued in 1880.

They eloped and, after Altamura abandoned his wife (the renowned Greek artist Eleni Boukoura-Altamoura) and their children, they had a son together, Bernard or Bernardo Hay (1862–1934).

In 1867 Jane Hay achieved her greatest professional success with The Florentine Procession, also known as The Burning of the Vanities, which was exhibited by Henry Wallis at the French Gallery in London.