Skip to main content
Advanced Search
Title
Self-Portrait while Sketching
Date1880s
MediumWatercolour and graphite with white highlights on paper
Dimensions
27.4 x 21.6 cm
Signedlower left: H.J. Maguire. Sept. 18…
Credit LinePurchased, 1987
Object numberNGI.19335
DescriptionAlthough the final two digits of the date are difficult to read, the costume worn by the sitter suggests that this watercolour was made in the 1880s when Helena Maguire was in her twenties. Maguire portrays herself sketching outdoors in respectable Victorian dress with a modest hairstyle. As a self-image, it can be read as a record of an aspiring young artist. Perhaps she is attempting to convey the idea that for her, drawing is more than just a polite activity suitable for women of her time.

(Katie Buckley, Curatorial Fellow - Prints and Drawings, An Artist's Presence, 2025, Print Gallery)