Jessica Hayllar
[1][3] Hayllar and her four sisters attended a day school in Gower Street and all were given art lessons by their father, who was himself a well-regarded painter.
[1] Ill health as a result of being knocked down by a carriage in 1900 greatly reduced her output in her later years when she was living in Bournemouth with her father.
[5] Hayllar spent the majority of her childhood in the countryside of Wallingford at the family home, Castle Priory, where she and her siblings learned to paint from her father.
[5] James Hayllar provided his daughters with artistic training and their own separate studio, as well as all the materials they needed and established working hours.
[5] Their artistic training began with drawing, learning perspective, modelling in clay, etching, and engraving before progressing to painting.
The Hayllar sisters thus followed the traditional model of female artists learning from family members, even though public art classes were becoming more available for women at the time.
[5] According to Christopher Wood, Hayllar’s best works were painted from 1885 to 1900 and primarily consist of domestic scenes at Castle Priory.
[7][8] In 1899, Jessica moved with her parents from Castle Priory to a smaller home in Bournemouth, where she continued to live with her father after her mother’s death.
[5] While many Victorian women artists had the opportunity to attend formal training outside the home, the Hayllar sisters were all educated by their father.
James Hayllar taught his children to depict popular subjects that would sell, and Jessica’s work, along with her sisters’, made a significant economic contribution to the family’s income.
By making a female artist worthy of depiction, Hayllar elevates women’s paintings from a hobby to a profession.
It is seen also in Hayllar’s subject matters, which focus on upper middle-class life and the social spaces of middle class femininity.
[5] Hayllar painted a large number of domestic scenes, using her family members as models, a method that was meant to indicate morality and piety.
[6] Most of Jessica Hayllar’s work presents an idealized view of female domesticity; this may have been her opinions as a Victorian-era woman, or it may have been a simple decision to paint what would sell best.
Notably, two of Hayllar’s works, Finishing Touches (1887) and Autumn Sunlight (1891), depict women producing art in the home.
[6] Servants are sometimes included in Hayllar’s art as symbols of household order and gatekeepers to middle class domestic ritual.
[6] Hayllar also displays an interest in exotic imported objects, reflecting the influence of Japonisme and possibly also cultural imperialism.
Hayllar used this screen as a device to create intimate spaces, conceal aspects of the composition, act as a background, or emphasize the subject matter.
The birds on the screen may be symbolic of a long, happy life, a message conducive to the warm home atmospheres that Hayllar created.
Cherry sees Hayllar’s work as representing a closed, contained world that signifies Victorian customs as ideal social order.
[8] While Hayllar’s impact has not been strongly addressed in scholarship, her contribution is still significant because it indicates the possibility for Victorian women artists to be successful in both shows and income.
