Gwen John and her brother

Gwen John was the eldest daughter of Edwin and Augusta, born in Wales in 1876. After her mother died,  when she was eight, her father went into mourning in the style of Queen Victoria, never remarrying. He left his work as a solicitor in his late thirties; the atmosphere in the house became sombre and cold.

Gwen and her younger brother Augustus both went to the Slade School of Art. She only managed to go through strong will as up to that point her education had followed the normal path considered suitable for a genteel young lady; they shared a room and lived on 'a diet of  fruit and nuts', according to Augustus in his autobiography 'Chiaroscuro'.

Augustus John's portraits of Elizabeth Asquith and Mrs Randolph

Even as students, it was the more flamboyant Augustus that stood out, whereas Gwen was quieter and more subdued. At the turn of the century Gwen made visits to Paris, studying under James Whistler. She began studying for the famous, older sculptor Auguste Rodin, becoming his lover. She met many of the other leading celebrities of the time, including Matisse,Braque, Brancusi and Picasso.

 In 1903 Gwen and her brother had a joint exhibition: she contributed three paintings to his forty-five. But their relationship was loving and non-competitive: he appreciated the interior feeling of her work, and introduced her to John Quinn, an American lawyer and collector who provided her with a stipend, so that she had no money concerns until he died in 1924, after which she produced little work. She stayed in simple rooms in Paris and later in Meudon, where she painted the nuns in the local convent.

She died in 1939; her work was rarely seen in England until the Memorial exhibition at the Matthiesen Gallery in 1946 established her reputation. At the moment there is an exhibition of her work plus that of Celia Paul, 'Painters in Parallel', in Chichester at the Pallant House Gallery . Though not contemporaries, there are many similarities: both were models and lovers of famous artists (Celia Paul was one of Lucien Freud's lovers and models); both were at the Slade; both painted many self portraits and portraits of women in intense, light-filled interiors.

Gwen John was a perfectionist who took a long while to decide on the pose of her model, working very slowly on quiet portraits of women and children, many with a similar simple theme such as a girl reading, plus self portraits.

While her models were anonymous, her Bohemian brother painted the rich and famous; but he used  to say that 'Fifty years after my death I shall be known as Gwen John's brother.' Gwen John's work is certainly more timeless, less dated than her brother's.