Henrietta Rae, a painter of portraits and nude and semi-nude classical subjects, was born in London on 30th December 1859. In 1872 she entered the Queen’s Square School of Art and in 1874, began to study the antique galleries of the British Museum during the day and at Heatherley’s School of Art in the evening. Three years later and after five unsuccessful attempts, she was accepted into the RA schools and studied there for seven years. In 1884, she married Ernest Normand, also an artist, but continued to use her maiden name in her professional capacity. John Byers was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution and Queen’s College, Belfast, and graduated with the degrees of BA and MA. He pursued a medical career and graduated MD from the Queen’s University in Ireland in 1882.