Fanny McIan
Fanny McIan was an English artist who specialized in Scottish historical scenes. As the first superintendent of London's Female School of Design, she promoted British women's art education in the mid-nineteenth century.
Early life and education
Frances Matilda "Fanny" Whitaker was born in Bath, the daughter of William Whitaker and Sarah Hawkins. Her father was a cabinetmaker, and her mother worked as an upholsterer after she was widowed. The exact date of her birth is not known, but she was about sixteen years old when she eloped with actor and painter R. R. McIan in 1831.Career
Fanny McIan painted epic historical scenes and intimate domestic scenes. She had her first exhibit at the Royal Academy in 1836. Her sentimental prints such as "Exiles from Erin" proved especially popular. One of her private students was John Leech, who drew caricatures for Punch magazine.Fanny McIan was the first superintendent of London's Female School of Design, which opened with government funding in 1842. The school was launched to train respectable young women in need of employment to be porcelain painters and otherwise enter industrial careers, but McIan's curriculum included more fine arts subjects, and attracted comfortable middle-class students as well. She was particularly chastised for allowing women students to learn figure drawing from nude models. Charles Dickens was a correspondent of McIan's, and agreed with her complaints that the original building and its location were ill-suited for art education. The distance between the school's stated mission and McIan's practices led to her termination in 1857.