Daune Elizabeth Rashleigh was one of those highly charming amateur artists of a recently past generation who quietly gave beauty to this life without hardly being noticed. Born on September 22, 1900 at Upton-Upon-Severn, Worcestershire, England of middle class parents, she lived for much of her life in a secret world and is almost unknown.
Her slight fame came from a very simple act as a child -- she wrote a letter -- and many years later, an exhibition. But the letter was addressed to Beatrix Potter and her reply was kept by Daune. Indeed, there were some similarities in their upbringing and talent. Both were from upper middle class families, educated at home by a German governess in a very secluded life and spent their time privately developing a skill for art. However, Daune was much more shy than even the young Beatrix Potter and became very reclusive as a child, hardly going out.
Her parents were Arthur and Edith Rashleigh, an old and distinguished family who had resided in Cornwall since the sixteenth century, however Arthur lived with his family at "Kaikoura", Malvern Wells, Worcestershire because he had not inherited the baronetcy in his family as he was a younger son. They had one other daughter, Rosamond, born in 1903. Daune's artistic talent probably came from her mother and she showed excellence at painting miniatures on ivory, creating embroidered pictures and sculpting wax portraits. After her sister married Sir John Langham in 1930 and went to live in Co. Fermanagh in Northern Ireland, she was left at home alone with her parents and quietly pursued her interests of art and gardening. She never married.
In 1940, during the darkest days of the Second World War, when the factories were depleted of men for military service, she decided to patriotically help by offering her artistic abilities to the Royal Porcelain Works in the nearby town of Worcester. This must have been a particularly courageous act by her since she had never before worked for a living and was so nervous of the world. She was paid a total salary, including war bonus, of £1.97 1/2p GBP ($3.30 USD) for 47 hours per week hand-painting porcelain. She finished there at war's end and never had any kind of employment again.
In 1946 she moved with her parents to Dublin, Ireland and it was there in 1955 that an exhibition of her wax miniatures was held. This received enormous interest. In 1960 she finally moved to County Fermanagh to be near her sister and died at her home Fenagh Beg, Killadeas, Irvinestown, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland in 1988. All her unusual life she was kind and sweet and loved art and her garden. Finding anything by her is a marvellous experience because it is a treasure from her secret world ... a world that, in a wider sense too, is most sadly no more.
Her slight fame came from a very simple act as a child -- she wrote a letter -- and many years later, an exhibition. But the letter was addressed to Beatrix Potter and her reply was kept by Daune. Indeed, there were some similarities in their upbringing and talent. Both were from upper middle class families, educated at home by a German governess in a very secluded life and spent their time privately developing a skill for art. However, Daune was much more shy than even the young Beatrix Potter and became very reclusive as a child, hardly going out.
Her parents were Arthur and Edith Rashleigh, an old and distinguished family who had resided in Cornwall since the sixteenth century, however Arthur lived with his family at "Kaikoura", Malvern Wells, Worcestershire because he had not inherited the baronetcy in his family as he was a younger son. They had one other daughter, Rosamond, born in 1903. Daune's artistic talent probably came from her mother and she showed excellence at painting miniatures on ivory, creating embroidered pictures and sculpting wax portraits. After her sister married Sir John Langham in 1930 and went to live in Co. Fermanagh in Northern Ireland, she was left at home alone with her parents and quietly pursued her interests of art and gardening. She never married.
In 1940, during the darkest days of the Second World War, when the factories were depleted of men for military service, she decided to patriotically help by offering her artistic abilities to the Royal Porcelain Works in the nearby town of Worcester. This must have been a particularly courageous act by her since she had never before worked for a living and was so nervous of the world. She was paid a total salary, including war bonus, of £1.97 1/2p GBP ($3.30 USD) for 47 hours per week hand-painting porcelain. She finished there at war's end and never had any kind of employment again.
In 1946 she moved with her parents to Dublin, Ireland and it was there in 1955 that an exhibition of her wax miniatures was held. This received enormous interest. In 1960 she finally moved to County Fermanagh to be near her sister and died at her home Fenagh Beg, Killadeas, Irvinestown, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland in 1988. All her unusual life she was kind and sweet and loved art and her garden. Finding anything by her is a marvellous experience because it is a treasure from her secret world ... a world that, in a wider sense too, is most sadly no more.
Daune Elizabeth Rashleigh was one of those highly charming amateur artists of a recently past generation who quietly gave beauty to this life without hardly being noticed. Born on September 22, 1900 at Upton-Upon-Severn, Worcestershire, England of middle class parents, she lived for much of her life in a secret world and is almost unknown.
Her slight fame came from a very simple act as a child -- she wrote a letter -- and many years later, an exhibition. But the letter was addressed to Beatrix Potter and her reply was kept by Daune. Indeed, there were some similarities in their upbringing and talent. Both were from upper middle class families, educated at home by a German governess in a very secluded life and spent their time privately developing a skill for art. However, Daune was much more shy than even the young Beatrix Potter and became very reclusive as a child, hardly going out.
Her parents were Arthur and Edith Rashleigh, an old and distinguished family who had resided in Cornwall since the sixteenth century, however Arthur lived with his family at "Kaikoura", Malvern Wells, Worcestershire because he had not inherited the baronetcy in his family as he was a younger son. They had one other daughter, Rosamond, born in 1903. Daune's artistic talent probably came from her mother and she showed excellence at painting miniatures on ivory, creating embroidered pictures and sculpting wax portraits. After her sister married Sir John Langham in 1930 and went to live in Co. Fermanagh in Northern Ireland, she was left at home alone with her parents and quietly pursued her interests of art and gardening. She never married.
In 1940, during the darkest days of the Second World War, when the factories were depleted of men for military service, she decided to patriotically help by offering her artistic abilities to the Royal Porcelain Works in the nearby town of Worcester. This must have been a particularly courageous act by her since she had never before worked for a living and was so nervous of the world. She was paid a total salary, including war bonus, of £1.97 1/2p GBP ($3.30 USD) for 47 hours per week hand-painting porcelain. She finished there at war's end and never had any kind of employment again.
In 1946 she moved with her parents to Dublin, Ireland and it was there in 1955 that an exhibition of her wax miniatures was held. This received enormous interest. In 1960 she finally moved to County Fermanagh to be near her sister and died at her home Fenagh Beg, Killadeas, Irvinestown, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland in 1988. All her unusual life she was kind and sweet and loved art and her garden. Finding anything by her is a marvellous experience because it is a treasure from her secret world ... a world that, in a wider sense too, is most sadly no more.
Her slight fame came from a very simple act as a child -- she wrote a letter -- and many years later, an exhibition. But the letter was addressed to Beatrix Potter and her reply was kept by Daune. Indeed, there were some similarities in their upbringing and talent. Both were from upper middle class families, educated at home by a German governess in a very secluded life and spent their time privately developing a skill for art. However, Daune was much more shy than even the young Beatrix Potter and became very reclusive as a child, hardly going out.
Her parents were Arthur and Edith Rashleigh, an old and distinguished family who had resided in Cornwall since the sixteenth century, however Arthur lived with his family at "Kaikoura", Malvern Wells, Worcestershire because he had not inherited the baronetcy in his family as he was a younger son. They had one other daughter, Rosamond, born in 1903. Daune's artistic talent probably came from her mother and she showed excellence at painting miniatures on ivory, creating embroidered pictures and sculpting wax portraits. After her sister married Sir John Langham in 1930 and went to live in Co. Fermanagh in Northern Ireland, she was left at home alone with her parents and quietly pursued her interests of art and gardening. She never married.
In 1940, during the darkest days of the Second World War, when the factories were depleted of men for military service, she decided to patriotically help by offering her artistic abilities to the Royal Porcelain Works in the nearby town of Worcester. This must have been a particularly courageous act by her since she had never before worked for a living and was so nervous of the world. She was paid a total salary, including war bonus, of £1.97 1/2p GBP ($3.30 USD) for 47 hours per week hand-painting porcelain. She finished there at war's end and never had any kind of employment again.
In 1946 she moved with her parents to Dublin, Ireland and it was there in 1955 that an exhibition of her wax miniatures was held. This received enormous interest. In 1960 she finally moved to County Fermanagh to be near her sister and died at her home Fenagh Beg, Killadeas, Irvinestown, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland in 1988. All her unusual life she was kind and sweet and loved art and her garden. Finding anything by her is a marvellous experience because it is a treasure from her secret world ... a world that, in a wider sense too, is most sadly no more.
