[1][2] Between 1914 and 1927, the Manning-Sanders family lived in Bude and Newlyn, Midhurst, Catchall, Sennen Cove, and Grasse, France.
[3] Between the ages of 5 and 12, Joan Manning-Sanders and her brother did not attend school but were taught by their governess Florence Bridge.
[3] Manning-Sanders was encouraged by Bridge to visualise and draw her Bible with added inspiration from nature and books.
[6] When Manning-Sanders was 11, her work was commended by Father Bernard Walke of St Hilary's Church, Cornwall.
[1][5] Aged 13, Manning-Sanders had her paintings The Pedlar and David and The Globe featured in the Young Artists' section of an exhibition organised by The Daily Express.
[1] Manning-Sanders's paintings were regularly accepted into the Royal Academy of Arts until the 1930s and gained her a reputation as a child prodigy.
[4][16] The book was described in an article in The Cornishman as including "many striking examples of the richness and originality of a singularly gifted child's mind.
[17] It was described in The Graphic as being "an advance in technique on her previous paintings–it is a work of a fully conscious artist, and no longer the remarkable achievement of an unusually promising beginner.
[7] After her artistic success in the early 1930s, Manning-Sanders attended the Chelsea School of Art and painted in both Paris and St Ives.
[23] From 19 November 2011 – 14 January 2012, an exhibition of Manning-Sanders's work was held at Penlee House in Penzance titled A Forgotten Prodigy.