THE 125th anniversary of the Bowes Museum has provided an opportunity to look afresh at the life and work of co-founder Josephine Bowes.

A major exhibition dedicated to her achievements styles her A Woman of Taste and Influence showing she was well ahead of her times.

The exhibition, which opens next weekend, gives an insight into this pioneering woman, artist and actress who was the driving force behind the creation of the museum alongside her husband, John Bowes.

During her short life – she died aged just 48 – she assumed a variety of roles including patron of the arts and collector, woman of fashion, socialite, wife, mistress and actress.

At a time when there were few opportunities for women to train and exhibit, her own paintings reveal she was aware of contemporary changes in style towards freer brushwork that was later dubbed Impressionism.

Paintings, archival documents, books, photographs and objects from the Bowes collection, some on display for the first time, will illumine all these aspects.

Daughter of a French clockmaker, the young Josephine Coffin-Chevallier joined the Theatre des Varietes in Paris in 1847. It was the same year that she met John Bowes, landowner, businessman, racehorse breeder/owner and former Liberal MP for South Durham, and became his mistress.

Under the stage name Mlle Delorme, she played many leading roles but gave up the stage after their marriage. It would have been socially unacceptable, despite her husband owning the theatre.

Both were outsiders from formal society – John being illegitimate and Josephine the daughter of an artisan and an actress.

In Paris – less formal than London society – the couple hosted dinners, parties and salons. Josephine patronised Charles Frederick Worth, leading couturier of the day, who dressed the Empress Eugenie.

Josephine became an accomplished painter whose landscapes were exhibited at the Paris Salon on four occasions and once at the Royal Academy in London.

“She is believed to be the first woman to establish a public museum and art gallery," said Joanna Hashagen, exhibition curator with museum archivist Judith Phillips.

"This was a remarkable achievement in an era when married women in England could not even hold property in their own name.”

Proceeds from the sale of Josephine's chateau funded her collecting. Not all purchases were to her taste, but she recognised they were worthy of display. She acquired an extraordinary range and quantity of craft pieces and paintings from most European countries and beyond.

A silver and ivory trowel used by Josephine to lay the foundation stone on Saturday, November 27, 1869, will on display. Sadly, neither she nor John lived to see the museum open to the public. Josephine died in Paris in 1874.

Josephine Bowes – A Woman of Taste of Influence – opens on Saturday, May 20, and runs until July 16.