Jane R. Price

• Name — Jane Rebecca Price • Born — 18 February 1860 • Birthplace — Cheddar, Somerset, England • Died — 24 May 1948 • Place of death — St. Kilda, Victoria, Australia • Field — Painting, Decorative arts • Training — Royal College of Art

Price was born in Cheddar, Somerset, England, on 18 February 1860. Her father, William Thomas Price, was a clergyman, her mother was Rebecca Jane Evans; she had five siblings. Price trained as an artist at the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London (then called the South Kensington Art School).

• Illustration — Children Playing in a Landscape, c. 1888, National Gallery of Victoria • Illustration — Landscape, 1890 At the age of 20, Price migrated from England to Sydney, then moved to Melbourne two years later. She returned to Sydney several times (1907–1910, 1925, 1935) but lived chiefly in Melbourne's suburbs, spending her final 13 years in St. Kilda, at the house of her friend Ina Gregory, another artist who is associated with the Heidelberg school. Price continually painted throughout her life, but, needing an income and somewhere to live, also worked as a governess, which reduced her productivity as an artist. She was a governess for artists Alexander and Beatrix Colquhoun from 1903, and later for Frederick and Annie McCubbin. Her paintings were exhibited by the Victorian Artists Society between 1882 and 1906, and at other places in Melbourne. Price enjoyed life-long friendship with artists who were central to the circle that came to be known as the Heidelberg school. Amongst her closest associates were Jane Sutherland, Clara Southern, Tom Roberts and Frederick McCubbin. Hammond and Peers record that Price is mentioned in a letter written by McCubbin to Roberts noting that he was pleased to see that "Janey Price did very well" in an exhibition held at McCubbin's house in Shipley St, South Yarra, in 1906. A number of her paintings were sold at the exhibition, according to Hammond and Peers.