Aglaia Coronio

Alexander Constantine Ionides and his wife and children, by George Frederic Watts, 1841 (Watts Gallery) – Aglaia is the fourth figure from the left

Aglaia Coronio (née Ionides; 1834 – 20 August 1906, Greek: Αγλαΐα Κορωνιού) was a British embroiderer, bookbinder, art collector and patron of the arts.

Early life

Of Greek descent, she was the elder daughter of businessman and art collector Alexander Constantine Ionides, who had immigrated to London from Constantinople (present day Istanbul) in 1827. Her older brother was Constantine Alexander Ionides (b. 1833); her younger siblings were Luca or Luke (b. 1837), Alexander or Alecco (b. 1840) and Chariclea Anthea Euterpe (b. 1844).

Aglaia Coronio portrait by George Frederic Watts circa 1874.

Later life

Coronio became a confidante of William Morris and a friend of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. William Morris taught her about Chaucer and bookbinding; Coronio is reportedly one of the first women to become a bookbinder in the late nineteenth century. She and her cousins Marie Spartali Stillman and Maria Zambaco were known among friends as "the Three Graces," after the Charites of Greek mythology (the youngest of whom was also "Aglaia").

She married Theodore John Coronio. On 20 August 1906, the day after the death of her daughter, Coronio died after stabbing herself in the neck and chest with a pair of scissors.

References

• Parry, Linda. "Coronio, Aglaia". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/62800. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.); cited as ODNB