Mary Burton

Background

Mary Rose Hill Burton was born in Edinburgh in 1857, into a well-educated and prominent family: her father was historian John Hill Burton, and her grandfather was legal scholar Cosmo Innes.

Education

Mary Rose"s mother, Katherine Innes Burton, had studied sculpture before working as a nurse in the Crimean War, and was an officer in the Edinburgh Ladies" Educational Association (ELEA). Mary Rose was educated with support from the Edinburgh Association for the University Education of Women, and pursued further art studies in Munich and Paris, under the instruction of Gustave Courtois and Raphael Collins, among others

Career

Mary Rose Hill Burton"s paintings (still lifes, landscapes, and street scenes) were exhibited through the Royal Scottish Academy and the Society of Scottish Artists. Burton painted murals as well, most notably a series of panels depicting the seasons, in the dining room of Saint Giles" House, Ramsay Garden, the property of sociologist Patrick Geddes. "Mission Hill Burton may be heartily congratulated upon the complete success of her undertaking," noted a contemporary critic of the mural.

She also taught a course in "Painting and Decoration" at the Old Edinburgh School of Artist

Mary Rose Hill Burton was active in the unsuccessful resistance against the North British Aluminium Company"s plans to locate a smelting plant at the scenic Falls of Foyers, near her residence in the Highlands. She made many drawings and paintings of the Falls before the plant was built, to capture the landscape before it was lost.

Mary Rose Hill Burton died in 1900, while traveling and working in Rome. She was 42 years old.

Achievements

• She was a founder of the Edinburgh Lady Artists" Club (1889).

Connections

Friend:

Conan Doyle