Explore: Elizabeth Murray

(1815 - 1882)

Elizabeth Murray was born in London, the daughter of portrait painter Thomas Heaphy. In the early 1830s she accompanied her father and brother to Italy, where she made sketches from classical sculpture. In c.1835 she was commissioned by Queen Adelaide to draw scenes in Malta. Following the visit she continued to Gibraltar and married H. J. Murray of the Consular Service, before travelling to Tangiers and Constantinople. In 1861 Murray was elected to the New Society of Painters in Watercolour. In 1864 she moved to America but continued to exhibit in England. Murray specialised in scenes of Mediterranean life. Other works by her can be found in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and the Forbes Magazine Collection, New York.