Lilly Martin Spencer
| Lilly Martin Spencer | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Angelique Marie Martin November 26, 1822 Exeter, United Kingdom |
| Died | May 22, 1902 (aged 79) New York, New York |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | Genre Painting |
| Spouse(s) | Benjamin Rush Spencer |
Lilly Martin Spencer (born Angelique Marie Martin) (November 26, 1822 – May 22, 1902) was one of the most popular and widely reproduced American female genre painters in the mid-nineteenth century. She painted domestic scenes, women and children in a warm happy atmosphere. Although she did have an audience for her work Spencer had difficulties earning a living as a professional painter and was in perpetual state of financial turmoil.
Lilly Martin Spencer was born in Exeter, England to French-born parents Gilles Marie Martin and Angelique Perrine LePetit Martin. In 1830, when Lilly was eight, her family immigrated to New York where they remained for three years before ultimately moving to Marietta, Ohio. There Lilly was home-schooled by her highly educated parents and began what would be her long career as an artist. Her first artistic endeavors were “likenesses of the entire household, in lifelike, characteristic postures, so truthful as to be recognized at once by everyone who knew them." These likenesses were drawn on the walls of the family home. Rather than being scolded, Lilly was encouraged in her love of art by her parents, whose reformist tendencies—her mother was a follower of the Utopian advocate Charles Fourier—included a belief in more opportunity for women. She continued to draw and her work was so impressive that "ladies and gentlemen began to call frequently at the farm, to judge for themselves of these vaunted pictures. Their admiring comments stimulated her ambition and added to her industry; but the difficulty of procuring proper materials and the want of a competent teacher retarded her progress."
Yet she drew the attention of local artists and was mentored and helped, especially in coloring her charcoal drawings. One such mentor was Sala Bosworth, a portrait and landscape artist who trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. The second was Charles Sullivan (1794–1867) who had also studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; his influence is very apparent in the early work of Lilly Martin. Martin's first exhibition in August 1841 was held at a church rectory, where she drew the attention of Nicholas Longworth, a benefactor of many artists. Of Lilly Martin, Longworth said “…a new genius has sprung up at Marietta or rather within five miles of it, at a farm house in the shape of a French girl of 17 or 18 years of age. She already has painted a great number of pictures. She is entirely self taught, excels in attitudes and designs."
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