It was not easy to live as an independent woman in the eighteenth century.
Women were expected to marry affluent men,
and take care of the household.
But this was not the life Ann Forbes chose.
Instead, she took the less conventional route, and chose a profession.
Forbes was born and raised in Scotland.
She was the granddaughter of William Aikman,
one of Scotland's leading portrait painters.
She inherited his paint box,
which is perhaps where her story as an artist begins.
Forbes showed so much promise, that a group of family friends
paid for her to go and study in Rome, the capital of art and architecture.
Budding artists dreamed of this opportunity,
but most couldn't afford it.
Forbes hoped to follow in the footsteps of the Scottish portrait painter,
Katharine Read, one of the few women who had already studied in Rome,
and found success as an artist.
Forbes moved to Rome in late 1767, with her mother accompanying her as chaperone.
She studied under the instruction
of the renowned Scottish artist Gavin Hamilton,
and also had instruction from James Nevay.
Hamilton was famous for his large, classical history paintings.
While there, she joined an expatriate community
of talented Scottish artists,
including Alexander Runciman, and David Allan.
Hamilton encouraged Forbes to switch from working in pastels to oil paint.
Oil paintings were more popular, and sold for more money.
But they took longer to create and needed to dry.
Forbes lacked experience with paint, and took a while to get to grips with it.
Even so, Forbes' determination and ability were well-respected.
"She has great talents, as well as a love for her profession,"
"and her industry is equal to her genius," Hamilton once said.
While Rome was an exciting opportunity for Forbes, as Katharine Read had found,
the experience was in many ways limited because they were women.
Women in the eighteenth century were not allowed to access
many of the institutions
where they could observe and learn about art firsthand.
Instead, Forbes was often allowed to borrow pictures to copy,
or work from engravings of work by artists such as Guido Reni, Titian ,
van Dyck, and Correggio.
And she always needed a chaperone with her.
Even her mentor, Nevay, eventually had to make formal appointments with her
to quash circulating rumors that they were romantically engaged.
These were not Forbes' only struggles in Rome.
She also didn't know the language, and wasn't used to the extreme heat.
Eventually, she left Italy and set up a studio in London,
a common choice for artists returning from their travels,
as London was the centre of the British art world.
In 1772, she exhibited one of the paintings she completed
while studying in Rome, at the Royal Academy.
She didn't have trouble securing portrait commissions,
but she was slow to finish them.
This made it difficult for her to complete enough pictures
to make a successful living, and it placed her under great strain.
Her health suffered as a result.
Abandoning her attempt to establish a career in London,
Forbes returned to Edinburgh, where she made a full recovery.
She began teaching, and resumed her practice, receiving portrait commissions
from wealthy, local patrons.
And in 1788, she was appointed the official portrait painter
for the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
Although Forbes didn't flourish in the highly competitive London art world,
she still managed to sustain a professional career in Edinburgh,
and she lived to be eighty nine.
Ann Forbes was restricted by the customs of the society she lived in,
but even so, she did maintain a career as a professional artist and teacher,
thanks to her talent, and most of all, her determination.
In his portrait of her, her friend and fellow artist, David Allan,
showed her as a professional woman at work.
Her straight back and determined stare are testimony to her strength and focus.