The forgotten Pre-Raphaelite sisterhood

Lucy and Catherine Madox Brown were extremely talented artists but as Victorian women their work was rarely on show. William Cook on a tragic tale of thwarted hope and stifled ambition

‘A deep problem – 9 and 6 make’ by Catherine Madox Brown, 1875 (Catherine Madox Brown)

Women have been written out of art history. Why doesn’t anybody say so? It took me half a lifetime to realise that the story of art I’d grown up with was a story written by men, about men. I didn’t stop to think that, back in the bad old days, critics and curators were mainly men. In their selective version of art history, women appeared only fleetingly - as models, wives or lovers – while so many female artists remained unseen, their tales untold.

Nowadays, in my line of work, most of the curators I meet are women, and I’m seeing a lot more art by women. Some of it is contemporary, but most of it has always been there, hidden away from public view. It’s not just women putting on shows by women – the entire climate has changed. Finally, female artists are being recognised in their own right, and an exhibition that sums up this seachange is Uncommon Power at Watts Gallery in Surrey, which showcases the neglected work of Lucy and Catherine Madox Brown.

Lucy and Catherine Madox Brown had an artistic training which was denied to virtually every other woman of their generation