I’d read previously about one of Dacre’s drawings from her period as a student at the Académie Julian, Paris, Portrait of a girl in a satin cap, surviving in a collection in Paris. I have at last located a web image of the work, thanks to Google Books, and the sketch now has it’s own page.

Dacre’s ability can not be underestimated. In the earlier parts of their careers, she was the most praised, and before 1900 was exhibited more regularly at the Royal Academy than Annie. Only from the 1900s onwards, when both were in their mid-fifties, did Annie come to the fore. As far as is known, Susan only painted portraits (always clothed) and landscapes, never symbolist works like Annie..

Jonathan Russell