Hilary Fraser is Executive Dean of Arts and Geoffrey Tillotson Professor of Nineteenth-Century Studies at Birkbeck, University of London. Her publications include Beauty and Belief: Aesthetics and Religion in Victorian Literature (Cambridge, 1986), The Victorians and Renaissance Italy (1992), Gender and the Victorian Periodical (with Judith Johnston and Stephanie Green, Cambridge, 2003) and Minds, Bodies, Machines, 1770–1930 (co-edited with Deirdre Coleman, 2011).

• Introduction; 1. The profession of art history; 2. The art of fiction; 3. Girl guides: travel, translation, ekphrasis; 4. Women's periods; 5. Feminine arts; Conclusion.

'… this eminently readable study of women writing in a diversity of genres during the nineteenth century … provides an important account of the conceptual origins of art history in Britain and the contributions of writers participating from the discipline's margins.' D. H. Cibelli, Choice

Hilary Fraser is Executive Dean of Arts and Geoffrey Tillotson Professor of Nineteenth-Century Studies at Birkbeck, University of London. Her publications include Beauty and Belief: Aesthetics and Religion in Victorian Literature (Cambridge, 1986), The Victorians and Renaissance Italy (1992), Gender and the Victorian Periodical (with Judith Johnston and Stephanie Green, Cambridge, 2003) and Minds, Bodies, Machines, 1770–1930 (co-edited with Deirdre Coleman, 2011).

• Introduction; 1. The profession of art history; 2. The art of fiction; 3. Girl guides: travel, translation, ekphrasis; 4. Women's periods; 5. Feminine arts; Conclusion.

'… this eminently readable study of women writing in a diversity of genres during the nineteenth century … provides an important account of the conceptual origins of art history in Britain and the contributions of writers participating from the discipline's margins.' D. H. Cibelli, Choice

Hilary Fraser is Executive Dean of Arts and Geoffrey Tillotson Professor of Nineteenth-Century Studies at Birkbeck, University of London. Her publications include Beauty and Belief: Aesthetics and Religion in Victorian Literature (Cambridge, 1986), The Victorians and Renaissance Italy (1992), Gender and the Victorian Periodical (with Judith Johnston and Stephanie Green, Cambridge, 2003) and Minds, Bodies, Machines, 1770–1930 (co-edited with Deirdre Coleman, 2011).

• Introduction; 1. The profession of art history; 2. The art of fiction; 3. Girl guides: travel, translation, ekphrasis; 4. Women's periods; 5. Feminine arts; Conclusion.

'… this eminently readable study of women writing in a diversity of genres during the nineteenth century … provides an important account of the conceptual origins of art history in Britain and the contributions of writers participating from the discipline's margins.' D. H. Cibelli, Choice