Miss Dorothy Ida Bagge was born at Richmond in Victoria on the 12th November 1883. She was the eldest of 5 living children of Matthew Lawson Bagge and Jane Roberts. Her father had been a colonel and was, for many years duty master of the mint. Dorothy had three sisters and a brother, non of whom appear to have married. Dorothy became an artist and her sister Marjorie, a singer, whilst their youngest sister, Prudence, had been a golfer. Phyllis, who was born in 1887, died at the age of 6 years and Kenneth died at the age of 30 in 1922.
Dorothy entered the Drawing Class at National Gallery Art School in 1900 and was friends with a group of women including Jessie C.A Traill, Norah Gurdon and Dora L Wilson. She progressed to the Painting class in 1903 and completed the course there in 1908.
Along with several graduates of her year, Bagge became a member of the Victorian Artists Society (VAS) in 1907. She exhibited a pastel titled “Madge” at that year’s Society exhibition and a portrait of Captain Barley, the famous mariner, titled “An old Nait” in 1912.
Dorothy travelled to London in the company of her mother and two surviving sisters, returning in March 1936 on board the Orient Line “Orsova”. There is no indication that she exhibited nor studied during her time there.
Despite her extensive professional training and years as a member of the VAS, Dorothy doesn’t appear to have formally identified as an artist and appears to have lived her entire life with her family. She died on the 22 May 1955 at Kooyong.

Apart from this picture which appears in the autograph book of Jessie Traill – in the collection of the State Library of Victoria, her work has been lost to history. https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/discovery/fulldisplay/alma9924774293607636/61SLV_INST:SLV