Brief Biography-Gwendolen Mary John, the older sister of Augustus John, was born in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Her mother, a watercolourist, passed away when Gwen was only eight. Two aunts who were Salvationists brought up the children. Gwendolen later converted to Catholicism due to their aunt’s strict upbringing. Their father, Edwin, eventually took the children from their aunts and moved to Tenby. In 1895, Gwen followed her brother Augustus to London’s Slade School of Art. In 1898, after a year in Paris, she returned to England and exhibited at the New England Art Club. Gwendolen returned to Paris in 1904 and began modelling for artists with her friend Dorelia McNeill. During this period, she encountered Auguste Rodin, for whom she modelled and subsequently became his mistress. She was besotted with Rodin and spent most of her life living in solitude, communicating with him whenever possible. All through this time, she neglected her painting career. In 1909 an American lawyer, John Quinn, who had previously seen her work in London, sent her money and asked her to send him as many works of art as she could. It was a turning point for Gwen, and she could now afford to concentrate on painting. She moved her lodgings closer to where Rodin lived, and as he was a Catholic, it tipped her into becoming a convert. When Rodin died in 1917, she withdrew into herself and lived a meagre existence, surrounded only by her cats. Her health deteriorated, and she died on a visit to the sea in Dieppe. Her remains lie in an unmarked grave, and their whereabouts remain unknown.