Study of Dead Birds

Still life paintings were a popular subject matter in the Victorian period. Their realism, simplicity and detail appealed to Victorian tastes. Many artists specialised only in still life, whilst for others it was one of many genres they practiced.

Helen Cordelia Angell, like many female artists of the period, would have chosen still life and flower painting as a specialism due to the social restrictions placed on women.

Femininity for the Victorians was linked to family, motherhood, respectability and the home environment. The constructs of motherhood and domesticity kept women away from the public sphere. Still life painting was a genre that could be practiced at home.