Júlíana Sveinsdóttir (31 July 1889 – 17 April 1966) was one of Iceland's first female painters and textile artists. Taught initially by prominent Icelandic artist Þórarinn B. Þorláksson, Júlíana settled in Denmark and returned to Iceland in the summers, the visits inspiring her landscape paintings, one of which won the Eckersberg Medal in 1947. Júlíana was an active supporter of artists and the arts. She was an early member of the Danish Female Artists' Society, and sat on the boards of the Charlottenborg Exhibition and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Though best known for her painting, Júlíana Sveinsdóttir was also a significant artist working in textiles, her commissions including a rug that decorated the court chamber of the Supreme Court in Copenhagen. Learning to paint; leaving Iceland Júlíana was born in Vestmannaeyjar (the Westman Islands), off the southern coast of Iceland, on 31 July 1889. Júlíana's interest in art was sparked at school, and by the time she was twenty she had received lessons from one of Iceland's most famous twentieth century artists Þórarinn B. Þorláksson, and travelled to Copenhagen to study in several private drawing schools, and finally the Royal Danish Academy of Art. Apart from a brief period in the late nineteen twenties, Júlíana would make her home in Denmark, and though she always entertained the idea of returning to Iceland to live, she never did so. However, while she spent much of her working life in Denmark, her summers were spent in Iceland, and the country's landscapes were the principal subject of her paintings. She was intensely conscious of her heritage, writing "I have always wanted to bring my works back home and defend myself. Yes, defend my absence from the country, show people what I've done, remind them that I'm woven from a more Icelandic thread than anyone else". Júlíana Sveinsdóttir and the role of women as artists The recognition of Júlíana's work, and the slow movement toward supporting herself through her art, coincided with the organisation and gradual acceptance of women in the European artistic community. She was an early (though not founding) member of the Danish Female Artists' Society (KKS), serving on its board from 1935 to 1949 and participating in its exhibitions. The goals of the KKS included increasing female representation on decision-making bodies, improving access for women to grants, as well as providing a social and artist network. From all