Brilliant Women: 18th-Century Bluestockings »

Elizabeth Eger teaches English literature at King’s College London. Lucy Peltz is 18th Century Curator at the National Portrait Gallery, London.

During the 18th century a remarkable group of women formed the Bluestocking Salon, where women and men met to debate contemporary ideas and promote the life of the mind. Together, these cultural innovators helped forge new roles for women as influential thinkers, writers, and artists, and their creative achievements were publicly celebrated.

Richly illustrated with portraits, prints, and personal artifacts, Brilliant Women tells the story of this fascinating group of women. The authors chart the changing fortunes of the female intellectual and explore how a number of bluestocking women, such as artist Angelica Kauffmann, historian Catharine Macaulay, and early feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, used portraiture to advance their work and their reputations in a period framed by the Enlightenment and the French Revolution.

Brilliant Women pays tribute to the friendships and achievements of these bluestocking women, presenting new information on the range of cultural activities in which they were engaged, as well as celebrating their legacy.

Forewords 8

Acknowledgements 12

Preface 16

The Bluestocking Circle: Friendship, Patronage and Learning Elizabeth Eger Eger, Elizabeth 20

Living Muses: Constructing and Celebrating the Professional Woman in Literature and the Arts Lucy Peltz Peltz, Lucy 56

'A Revolution in Female Manners': Women, Politics and Reputation in the Late Eighteenth Century Lucy Peltz Peltz, Lucy 94

The Bluestocking Legacy Elizabeth Eger Eger, Elizabeth 126

Select Bibliography and Further Reading 152

Picture Credits 155

Index 156