Miss Henrietta Skerrett Montalba
Born 1856
Died 14 September 1893
Active: 1875 - 1892
Sculptor
Born in London. She was the youngest of the four daughters of Anthony Rubens Montalba (Swedish painter) and Emmeline. Her sisters Clara and Hilda were successful painters.
Henrietta studied first at the South Kensington School of Design, and then at the Accademia delle Belle Arti in Venice, where her family lived in 1873. She then returned to South Kensington where she became a pupil of Jules Dalou (1877-80). Whilst studying in South Kensington she became friends with fellow student Princess Louise who later modelled a bust of Montalba. Henrietta exhibited regularly at the Grosvenor Gallery, the New Gallery, and elsewhere. She was known for her fancy portait busts and her preferred medium was terra cotta. 'Venetian boy catching a crab', c.1893 a bronze made by Montalba towards the end of her life and depicting a boy lying on rocks reaching out to catch crabs is in the Victoria and Albert Museum collection (A.20-2000, see Diane Bilbey with Marjorie Trusted, p.340 and V&A collections online).
Montalba remained unmarried and lived with her family in London and in Venice from the 1880s. The family travelled widely and Henrietta proved a talented linguist. In 1892 her health began to fail, and she died a year later in Venice. She was buried near her father in the cemetery of San Michele, Zattere, Venice.
Works
Dates are usually the year a work was exhibited so may differ from date of production.
New entries have been made each time a work was exhibited. Click here for more information.
Bedtime
1887 (Circa)
Locations
Address 20 Stanley Crescent Bayswater London | View on map
1877 (Circa)
Address Studio, Campden Hill Mews London | View on map
1889 - 1899
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at Aberdeen Artists' Society Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, 1887
'Bedtime'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1875 - 1893
Exhibited 12 times (1875-1876, 1880-1889, 1893), usually one work, a bust in marble or terracotta.
Exhibited at The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts Annual Exhibition, 1861-1951
1881 - 1882
Exhibited 2 times (an average of 2 works per show)
Sources
Aberdeen Artists' Society. Third Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, 1887
December 1887
p. 34
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2004
Pamela Gerrish Nunn, ‘Montalba, Henrietta Skerrett (1856–1893)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/19039, accessed 16 Oct 2009]
Citing this record
'Miss Henrietta Skerrett Montalba', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib6_1242308543, accessed 25 Mar 2023]
