Adelaide Eliza Ironside

Adelaide Eliza Scott Ironside (17 November 1831 – 15 April 1867) was an Australian artist. Born in Sydney in 1831, she developed an early interest in languages and painting. Influenced by the views of her eventual patron, the republican writer and politician John Dunmore Lang, she eventually began publishing radical poetry and articles in local newspapers. At the age of 23, she moved to Italy with her mother to train as an artist. She developed an interest in frescoes and aspired to return to Australia to paint the walls of public buildings. She painted several portraits—her subjects included the Prince of Wales and William Charles Wentworth—along with paintings that drew on Biblical themes and the style of the Pre-Raphaelites and the Nazarene movement. Ironside died of tuberculosis in Italy in 1867 at the age of 35, after which her art largely faded into obscurity; many of her paintings are now lost.

Life Adelaide Eliza Ironside was born in Sydney on 17 November 1831 to parents James Ironside, a Scottish immigrant who worked as a commission agent, and Martha Rebecca . In addition to her paintings, Ironside produced frescoes, many of which were inspired by the work of Renaissance painters. She painted portraits of the Prince of Wales and of William Charles Wentworth, who each paid her £500.