Elizabeth Martha Roberts was a quietly determined Victorian artist whose life and work unfolded on the margins of London’s 19th-century art world. Though restricted by the expectations placed upon women of her class, and later by widowhood, she persisted in her pursuit of painting with conviction.

Working as a National Gallery copyist in the 1870s and 1880s, she produced careful studies after master paintings, several of which reveal a delicate, instinctive touch. Her interpretation of Turner’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage survives as perhaps her most striking achievement - a luminous, sincere homage that preserves subtle tonalities now lost from the original. Through works such as this, she emerges not as an “amateur” in spirit, but as a dedicated practitioner who pursued art in the narrow spaces life allowed her.

Known For

Sensitive and carefully observed 19th-century copies after Old Masters. Participation in the National Gallery copyist programme.

Student Of

Not formally recorded, though her repeated admittance to the National Gallery’s copyist scheme indicates a level of competence and instruction consistent with the informal training available to Victorian women (private lessons, drawing schools, and supervised study from the masters).

Lived In

Born in London, likely Lambeth (c.1839). Lived and worked at Prospect Lodge, Holland Road, Lambeth.

Timeline

C.1839

Born in London, the daughter of William and Mary Lawrence. Her early years remain undocumented, but census records suggest a family of modest means.

1850s-1860s

Developed artistic interests in drawing and painting, possibly through private tuition or women’s drawing classes.

1861

Married Joseph Roberts, a civil engineer.

1860s-1870s

Widowhood (likely mid-1860s). Recorded in census documents as an artist in “drawing and painting".

1870s

Received a National Gallery copyist’s permit, an annual privilege requiring applicants to submit a finished copy for approval. During these years, she produced her interpretation after Turner’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage.

1880s

Continued to participate in the copyist programme.

1890s-1900s

Remained active at Prospect Lodge, Lambeth, living with her daughter, Robina. She continued to describe herself professionally as an artist, supplementing her income by letting rooms.

1911

Last likely census appearance; by this time, she is in her early seventies.

Between 1911 and 1921

Died sometime before the 1921 census.