Florence Carlyle was one of the prominent women artists in Canada throughout the late 19th c and early 20th c, during a period that saw the emergence of significant number of professionally trained women artists. Travelling from Woodstock, Ontario, where she grew up, to France, Great Britain, the United States and Italy, with periodic visits home for long periods of time, she settled in Great Britain in 1913 and died in Crowborough, East Sussex, not far from London. Although she was a versatile artist, she particularly enjoyed turning her brush to depicting the fugitive moods of women; her warm and sensitive genre subjects, based on observation and her interpretation of Victorian society, sensibility, costume and the stuffs and textures of Victorian taste, are among the best of her works. What unites them, early and late, is an ability to seize the momentary but telling gesture, and great technical brilliance in the portrayal of light, particularly the ruddy glow of firelight.
Encouragement, as we know from family lore, came mainly from her mother, Emily Youmans. It was she who was the first to recognize Carlyle's talent and may have been in large measure responsible for her daughter's dedication to art. Noting Carlyle's aptitude for drawing, and believing that she possessed an ability of no ordinary talent, Youmans assisted her in obtaining an education since any money left over from raising the seven children of the family went to the education of the boys. It was Youmans who awoke sufficient enthusiasm among the parents of the community in Woodstock to organise a children's art class. Youmans it was who found and invited the teacher, an artist from nearby London, Ontario - William Lees Judson. In Judson's class, about 1874, while still a young girl, Carlyle obtained her first lessons, probably learning from him the basics of drawing, copying from paintings and perhaps sketching scenery, as well as being introduced to watercolours and oils.
| 1st marriage | James Carlyle | m: 1790 | Janet Carlyle of "Sandbed" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| b: Aug 1758 Brownknowe, Middlebie, Dumfries, Scotland d: 23rd Jan 1832 Mainhill, Scotsbrig, Middlebie, Dumfries, Scotland bur: After 23rd Jan 1832 Ecclefechan, Annan, Dumfries, Scotland | b: 22nd Dec 1768 "Sandbed", Hoddam/Middlebie, Dumfries, Scotland d: 11th Sep 1792 Middlebie, Dumfries, Scotland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| John | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| b: 1792 d: 1872 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| John Carlyle | m: 16th Aug 1817 Brydekirk, Cumberland | Margaret Benn | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| b: 1792 d: 1872 | b: 6th May 1798 Brydekirk, Cumberland d: 1st May 1867 Brantford, Ontario, Canada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Janet | Mary | John | John | James | William | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| b: 1818 Brydekirk, Cumberland d: 1889 | b: 1821 Brydekirk, Cumberland d: c 1850 | b: 1825 Brydekirk, Cumberland d: Before 1827 | b: 1827 Brydekirk, Cumberland d: 1897 | b: 1830 Brydekirk, Cumberland d: 1900 | b: 25th Dec 1833 Brydekirk, Cumberland d: 25th Jun 1911 Woodstock, Ontario, Canada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| William Carlyle | m: 1860 Ontario, Canada | Emily Youmans | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| b: 25th Dec 1833 Brydekirk, Cumberland d: 25th Jun 1911 Woodstock, Ontario, Canada | b: 13th Oct 1835 Athol, Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada d: 19th Dec 1912 Woodstock, Ontario, Canada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| William Arthur | Lillian | Maud | Blanche | Albert Russell | Ernest Jerrold | Edwin Stanley | Russell Albert | b: 1862 Galt, Ontario, Canada d: 1947 | b: 1866 Galt, Ontario, Canada | b: 1872 Galt, Ontario, Canada d: 1936 | b: Apr 1875 Galt, Ontario, Canada d: Aug 1875 | b: c Oct 1875 Galt, Ontario, Canada d: Aug 1876 | b: 1877 Galt, Ontario, Canada d: 1952 | b: 1879 Galt, Ontario, Canada d: 1941 | b: 1881 Galt, Ontario, Canada d: 1932 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Florence Emily | Ella | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| b: 24th Sep 1864 Galt, Ontario, Canada d: 2nd May 1923 The Cottage [a.k.a. Yew Tree Cottage], Crowborough, Sussex bur: After 2nd May 1923 Crowborough, Sussex | b: 1868 Galt, Ontario, Canada d: 1871 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Weald is at Database version 14.05 which has ongoing updates to the 395,000 people; 9,000 places; 613 maps; 3,308 pictures, engravings and photographs; and 248 books loaded in the previous version
