Thérèse Lessore (1884-1945) was born in Brighton and after attending the South-Western Polytechnic Art School was at Slade School of Fine Art, 1904–9, where she won the Melville Nettleship Prize for Figure Composition.

Lessore painted scenes of ordinary life and everyday subjects. She showed at LG, NEAC and Goupil Gallery and had first solo exhibition at Eldar Gallery, with a catalogue preface by painter Walter Sickert. She married Sickert in 1926, shared a love of the music-hall and circus with him, which was reflected in her work, and nursed him until his death.