Elizabeth Murray (1815 – 8 December 1882), born Elizabeth Heaphy, was a British watercolourist. She primarily painted portraits and landscapes of the Canary Islands, where she lived for ten years. She was a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, and was one of the founders of The Society of Female Artists in London in 1857.
Murray's father was Thomas Heaphy, also a watercolour painter. She first learned to paint from him, and they travelled and painted together. She continued to travel and live across the world, and paint scenes and portraits from these places: in particular, Rome, Morocco, the Canary Islands (particularly Tenerife), and New England. She married Henry John Murray, a British consul whom she met when living in Morocco, and moved with him as he was assigned to the Canary Islands.
José Luis García Pérez has pointed out that it is difficult to know the exact dates Murray's paintings were created, and that because of her travels it is likely she sketched the initial drawings and then took more time to finish them.[1] Many of the dates of her paintings refer to the year they were exhibited—when she arrived in a new place she tended to exhibit work from where she had previously been, so when she arrived in the Canary Islands she exhibited work with Greek and Moroccan themes, and when she arrived in Portland she exhibited her work related to Spain.
Murray created around 85 pieces that can be divided into three groups: portraits, which were the highlights of her artwork; general scenes; and landscapes.[1]
Murray also published a monograph, Sixteen Years of an Artist's Life in Morocco, Spain, and the Canary Islands about her travels, in 1859. In 1865 she published The Modern System of Painting in Watercolour from the Living Model, a more technical explanation of watercolour painting.