In the 1820s Margaret Gillies was a pupil of Frederick Cruikshank, a Scottish miniature painter. During the first two decades of her career Gillies made large miniature portraits, and some subject ...

Bulgarian-born writer; studied Chemistry in Vienna before emigrating to England in 1938; wrote essays, plays, autobiography and a study of crowds, but made his name with the novel, Die Blendung (1935) ...

Married fellow painter John Bratby in 1953. An assured figurative painter, Cooke had her first solo show at the Leicester Galleries in 1964 and exhibited her work regularly from then on.

Younghusband's interests lay in problems of the poor, and whilst a full-time lecturer at the London School of Economics (1933-57), she devoted her spare time to the Citizens' Advice Bureaux, care ...

The Primary Collection contains more than 12,700 portraits. Of these, over 4,100 are paintings, sculptures and miniatures. In addition, there are over 8,500 light-sensitive works on paper, shown on a ...

Olaudah Equiano was born in Essaka, in what is now southeastern Nigeria. He was kidnapped into slavery at the age of eleven and put to work for a number of different masters in America, the West ...

Jacob Ferdinand Voet was a Flemish painter who made his career in Rome. Little is known of his early life in Antwerp. He arrived in Rome in 1663, probably via France. Voet became a much sought-after ...

Emmanuel Levy was born in Manchester and studied art at Manchester School of Art, St Martin's School of Art, London, and in Paris. During the 1930s his influences included Cubism, Expressionism and ...

Sir Henry Hobart was an English judge and politician. He trained in the law and was called to the Bar in 1584. Hobart entered Parliament as an MP in 1588. Hobart was Steward of Norwich in 1595, made ...

Tewodros II (or 'Theodore') was a Coptic Christian ruler of Abyssinia from 1855. Like many rulers, he won power through defeating his rivals through war, but he continued to face internal revolt and ...

Mary Moser trained with her father George Michael Moser, a Swiss engraver, medallist and a leading figure at the St Martin's Lane Academy, as well as the first keeper of the Royal Academy. His ...

Following the death of his father George V, Edward succeeds to the throne as King Edward VIII, but chooses to abdicate in order to marry the American divorcee, Wallis Simpson. Edward was the only ...