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Agnes Strickand was among the most celebrated and widely read popular historians of the Victorian period. Educated at home by her father, her earliest influences were as diverse as Plutarch’s Lives and the historical novels of Sir Walter Scott. Strickland began her career experimenting with imitations of Scott’s works but soon abandoned fiction for history itself, embarking on a multivolume history of the Tudor queens of England published between 1840 and 1848. The success of these volumes earned Strickland celebrity status and an entrée into the social life of London’s most admired writers and exclusive families. Later projects included explorations of some of the most contested areas of British history, including the lives of sixteenth-century Scottish queens as well as forays into ancient history. Baily’s bust was made at the height of her fame and at a time when Strickland’s work was an inspiration for many British artists. Baily was a pupil of John Flaxman and built a formidable reputation with the success of his large ideal sculptures, funerary monuments, and portrait busts.

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016