Evelyn De Morgan began signing artworks with her married name following her marriage to William De Morgan in 1887. The couple had met in 1882 and formed a unique artistic partnership. It is through this lens that De Morgan’s art is best known.

But before she met De Morgan, she lived a full and active life of social meetings, art exhibitions and independent travel through Europe.

David Webber has recently uncovered countless mentions of Evelyn Pickering in the diaries of Victorian socialite Eliza Bagehot during his research on her sister, the artist Emilie Russell Barrington. This discovery reveals, for the first time, a picture of Evelyn’s life before marriage.

In this talk, Sarah Hardy, Director of the De Morgan Museum, will present the diary entries alongside images of De Morgan’s early artworks to fully celebrate her rich and active social life in artistic Victorian London.