Sharpe was born in
Birmingham to Sussanna (born Fairhead?) and an engraver named William Sharpe and she was baptised on 21 August 1798 at
St Phillip's church. She had three sisters,
Eliza Sharpe,
Charlotte Sharpe and
Mary Ann Sharpe who all became artists. The parents allowed Louisa and the other daughters to travel to the continent to inspect galleries in France and Germany and each of the daughters was taught to engrave. William and Sussanna moved the Sharpe family to London in 1816. Whilst she was a child she was painted with her sister Eliza by
George Henry Harlow. Sharpe was said to be the most talented of the four female artists in the family. She had nearly thirty paintings accepted at the
Royal Academy starting in 1817. From 1829 Sharpe was elected to the (old) Watercolour Society. She created sentimental and commercial images including poets and people in costume. These highly finished pictures were engraved and appeared in annuals. Her image of "Ellen Strathallan" was engraved in 1829 and appeared in the
Forget-Me-Not annual. Her work also appeared in
Heath’s ‘Book of Beauty’ and in
The Keepsake annual for 1832. Her painting,
Do You Remember It?, appeared in the annual, engraved by
Charles Heath and with illustrative verse by
Letitia Elizabeth Landon. Her painting, "Constance," as engraved by Charles Heath, illustrated
Mary Shelley's "
The Dream" in
The Keepsake for MDCCCXXXII. Her painting, "Flora," as engraved by
Francis Engleheart, illustrated Shelley's "The Brother and Sister: An Italian Story" in
The Keepsake for MDCCCXXXIII. Sharpe married Professor
Woldemar Seyffarth in 1834 and she moved to live with him in
Dresden. Sharpe still painted and her work was exhibited in London as her husband had his own business to conduct in Britain.
Anna Brownell Jameson wrote of Louisa and Eliza Sharpe that no man could paint like they did. This was not because their work was so clever but because it was so essentially feminine. Sharpe died in 1843 in Dresden. She had two daughters and one,
Agnes Seyffarth exhibited her pictures. ==External links==