The women who made us

Both in the nineteenth century and the years that have followed,  an abundance of women have helped to shape the artwork, collections and history of Leighton House and Sambourne House, as well as the surrounding Holland Park Circle. Here, we share a glimpse at some of the fascinating stories of these remarkable women, including models, artists, photographers, biographers, philanthropists, and musicians.  

Models and muse

Dorothy Dene

Leighton's principal model for the later years of his life, Dorothy modelled for Bianca (1881), Desdemona (1888) , Leighton's final painting Clytie (1895-6), and is also thought to have possibly modelled for his celebrated Flaming June (1895), amongst many others. She trained as an actress and managed to establish a reasonably successful career, including performances in New York. Dorothy was one of the few admitted to Leighton’s bedroom to take leave of him as he lay dying.

Mary Lloyd

Leighton began to paint Mary Lloyd around 1893 and continued to until his death. She features in several of Leighton’s pictures including Corinna of Tanagra (c.1893), Lachrymae (1894-5) and Twixt Hope and Fear (1895). She was the daughter of a prosperous squire, who eventually lost his fortune; Mary came to London determined to sustain herself through modelling for prestigious artists - but she always refused to pose unclothed.

Hetty and Lily Pettigrew

The Pettigrew sisters were successful models of the time and sat for both Leighton and Sambourne, as well as other prominent artists including Millais, Whistler and Burne Jones. Whilst Leighton would have drawn studies from life, Sambourne turned towards photography to capture poses later used to create his illustrations.

Victorian artists

Gertrude Jekyll

In 1870 Leighton commissioned the eminent landscape gardener and craftswoman, Gertrude Jekyll, to embroider a cover for the dining room table. Leighton had seen Jekyll's embroidery work at the London International Exhibition Society in New Bond Street, and described it as "of remarkable merit in point of colour and arrangement." Jekyll went on to complete three more commissions for Leighton, including two strips of silk used to decorate the cushions on the staircase seat at Leighton House (a reproduction of Jekyll's work is now on display).

Julia Margaret Cameron

A pioneering photographer known for her soft-focus portraits of famous Victorian figures and scenes from literature and mythology. Our museums hold a collection of twelve of her works. Julia was the sister of Sara Prinsep, who was associated with the Holland Park Circle through her artist husband and son. The women of the family in general were known for their beauty, their artistic manner of dressing and cultivated conversation.

Emilie Russell Barrington

Biographer and novelist, Emilie was a friend and neighbour to Leighton, within the Holland Park Circle. Starting out as a contributor to the Fortnightly Review and The Spectator, she wrote several stand-alone works including the biographies of G.F. Watts and Leighton. Emilie was instrumental in establishing Leighton House as a museum.

Mary Thornycroft

A sculptor best known for her work portraying Queen Victoria’s many children, Mary was at the centre of a remarkable artistic family who were amongst those to build a studio house as part of the surrounding Holland Park Circle. As is often sadly the case with female artists, her male relatives’ careers in many ways overshadowed her own, and her reputation has since faded.

Evelyn De Morgan

When Leighton House first became a museum after Leighton's death, Evelyn De Morgan was one of the first artists to exhibit there, holding a successful solo show in 1902.  Her drawing Victoria Dolorosa (now part of the Leighton House collection) was exhibited in this show, and was once again on display at the museum in 2023 as part of the exhibition Evelyn De Morgan: The Gold Drawings showcasing 14 other of these unique artworks, loaned by the Trustees of the De Morgan Foundation.

The Sambourne women

Marion Sambourne

A devoted wife to Linley Sambourne and their two children, Roy and Maud, Marion had a good head for money management and proficiently ran the family home at 18 Stafford Terrace, now Sambourne House. Though often reluctantly, Marion also occasionally assisted Linley in his work by posing for photographs he then used to create his illustrations.

Maud Messel (neé Sambourne)

The daughter of Linley and Marion Sambourne , Maud inherited her father's talent for drawing and had lessons with artist Blanche Vicat-Cole. She had her work published in Punch, the Pall Mall Gazette, The Englishwoman, and was featured as a ‘Rising Star’ in The Windsor Magazine. As was the convention at the time, she gave up her career after her marriage.

Anne Messel, later Countess of Rosse

Maud's only daughter, Anne, later Countess of Rosse, was instrumental in establishing the Victorian Society at Sambourne House in 1958, with the aim of preserving Victorian and Edwardian architecture. This also led to the transformation of the house into a museum in 1980.

Museum champions

Sally Dobinson 

Sally worked at Leighton House and Sambourne House for 22 years, receiving a Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Long Service Award in 2023, before retiring in April 2024. Sally held a number of roles with the museums and over the last decade she had devoted herself to the preservation and care of our collections. Her commitment and energy were fundamental to the success of major museum restoration and refurbishment projects completed over recent years. At the start of 2025 we were deeply saddened by news of the passing of Sally, who we miss every day. In commemoration, the corner of the Leighton House garden which is currently being redeveloped as an outdoor learning space for schools and the local community, with raised beds for planting, bug hotels, bird boxes and bird feeders, will be called Sally's Garden - a permanent memorial to our dear friend and colleague. Sally's Garden has been supported by The Friends of Leighton House, through funds raised at their annual Garden Party, and The Charlotte Bonham-Carter Charitable Trust.

Shirley Nicholson

Long-term museums volunteer, Shirley Nicholson, has given decades of dedication to transforming the knowledge and appreciation of Sambourne House and Leighton House. As well as researching for numerous publications, Shirley is the author of two books: A Victorian Household: Based on the Diaries of Marion Sambourne and An Edwardian Bachelor: Roy Sambourne.

Contemporary commissions

Shahrzad Ghaffari

Shahrzad was the first female artist commissioned to create a contemporary artwork for permanent display at  Leighton House. Her spectacular 11-metre-high mural, Oneness, now decorates the walls of the new helical staircase in the modern wing.

In 2023 the exhibition Shahrzad Ghaffari: Journey to Oneness presented a curated selection of works from the last fifteen years of Shahrzad’s career, influenced by Persian poetry and artistic traditions and themed around ideas of love, spirituality, and identity. 

Sara Choudhrey

In the newly created Learning Centre at Leighton House, a commissioned triptych Anhaar by artist Sarah Choudhrey, echoes Leighton House’s collection and celebration of Islamic art.  The title translates to Rivers from Arabic and is inspired by the many layers of water and ink washes used in the work.

The concept brings together a number of themes including that of travel and migration (of people and objects), the transfer of knowledge beyond borders, the timelessness of geometry, and the celebration of the presence of geometry in nature and cosmos.

Maya Youssef

Hailed as ‘queen of the qanun’, award-winning Syrian musician Maya is a globally renowned qanun player (a 78 stringed plucked zither traditionally played by men). Be transported with the premiere performance of Maya Youssef's 'The Sound of Home', a two-piece composition commissioned by Leighton House as a musical response to the evocative interiors of the museum, whilst also reflecting Maya’s personal approach to the concept of home, a recurrent theme in her career as a displaced musician.