Reinstating Mrs Jameson: revolutionary iconographer and shaper of the Gothic Revival

The limited scholarship of Christian iconography focuses largely on Didron and Mâle, entirely neglecting the foundational work of women writers of nineteenth-century Britain and Ireland. Of these women, prolific writer and art historian Anna Jameson (1794-1860) provided the first systematic study of Christian iconography in English, hugely popular with scholars, artists and the educated public for more than 70 years. Addressing her work, my thesis will place Jameson as a vital contributor to knowledge, fundamental to any study of iconography, and as a major influence on the artistic and cultural developments of the Victorian Gothic Revival.