Lady Herringham was an expert copyist of the Italian Old Masters and had translated Il Libro dell' Arte o Trattato della Pittura, Cennino Cennini's fifteenth-century handbook on fresco and tempera.
[1] The artist John Dickson Batten (1860–1932) was the Society's principal organiser and also its Honorary Secretary.
In 1904, members of the Society were: Edwin Austin Abbey, Robert Bateman, John Dickson Batten, his wife Mary Batten, Robert Anning Bell, Lota Bowen, John Cooke, Walter Crane, Louis Davis, Mary Sargant Florence and Roger Fry.
[2] Other notable members included Bernard Sleigh, Joseph Southall and Estella Canziani.
The Society, which was also referred to as the Society of Mural Decorators and Painters in Tempera, published a number of papers on the subject of tempera painting which have been edited in three volumes.