Theodora Esther Cowan (Theo) (1868–1949) was an Australian artist, regarded as the first Australian-born woman sculptor. She was one of a number of women sculptors who were working at the end of the 19th century. Apart from being the first to be born in Australia, Cowan (along with Margaret Baskerville) was among the first to achieve success, especially for her portrait work. Biography Cowan was born at Richmond Villa in The Domain, Sydney and began her training in Sydney at the Sydney Technical College with Lucien Henry before moving to Italy in 1889 with her parents, where she stayed for six years. She studied in Florence at the Academy of Fine Arts under Longworth Powers and Augusto Rivalta, where she "acquired the technique of her art". Cowan was one of a number of young Australian sculptors, including Bertram Mackennal, who had gone to Europe to study in the early years of the 20th century. In Italy Cowan met prominent people such as Pietro Mascagni, Ouida and the American sculptor Harriet Hosmer. In 1895, Cowan returned to Sydney and established a studio in the Strand Arcade. She found there was some prejudice against women sculptors and explained that she was "in the position of a pioneer". Cowan travelled to London in 1901, set up a studio in Grosvenor Street, and met important artists such as Holman Hunt, who visited her. She again returned to Sydney in 1913 and worked from Darlinghurst. In Australia, two of her "best friends" were Lord Hampden, the Governor, and George Reid, the Prime Minister, who Cowan described as "not imbued with this local distrust in women's work". In 1902, Cowan's name appeared in a list that included Nellie Melba, Ada Crossley, Rosa Campbell Praed, Kathleen Mannington Caffyn, Louise Mack, Mary Gaunt and Ellis Rowan in an illustrated article entitled "Notable Australian Women". When Cowan died in a private hospital in Vaucluse on 27 August 1949, her address was Osiris 84 Berry Street, North Sydney. The probate value on her estate was £5047. Career Cowan's first commission was completed in Italy. It was "a monument to Miss Pearson, the Red Cross nurse who founded the first private hospital in London" and was erected in the cemetery of San Miniato al Monte. She was invited to submit a maquette for the proposed sculptural groups to be erected on the Queen Victoria Building but her design of "three draped