Anne Seymour Damer, ''née'' Conway, (26 October 1748 – 28 May 1828) was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
sculptor. Once described as a 'female genius' by Horace Walpole, she was trained in sculpture by Giuseppe Ceracchi and John Bacon. Influenced by the Enlightenment movement, Anne was an author, traveller, theatrical producer and actress, as well as an acclaimed sculptress.
She exhibited regularly at The Royal Academy from 1784 to 1818. She was a close friend to members of Georgian high society, including Horace Walpole and the Whig politician Charles James Fox. It is believed that Damer was a lesbian and was in a relationship with the actress
Elizabeth Farren
Elizabeth Farren (c. 175923 April 1829) was an Irish actress of the late 18th century. Born in Cork in 1759 her father, George Farren was a surgeon. His drinking habits brought on early death and his widow returned to Liverpool. Her mother went ...
.
Life
Anne Conway was born in
Sevenoaks into an
aristocratic Whig family. She was the only daughter of Field-Marshal
Henry Seymour Conway (1721–1795) and his wife Caroline Bruce, born Campbell, Lady Ailesbury (1721–1803). Her father was a nephew of
Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Lea ...
, Britain's first prime minister.
Walpole's son, Horace Walpole was her godfather, and Anne spent much of her childhood in his home in Strawberry Hill.
Her mother was the daughter of the Duke of Argyll. She was brought up at the family home at
Park Place,
Remenham,
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Ber ...
. She was highly educated and taught at home.
By the time she was seventeen, she was introduced into society.
In 1766 at the age of 17, she was sketched by
Angelica Kaufmann
Maria Anna Angelika Kauffmann ( ; 30 October 1741 – 5 November 1807), usually known in English as Angelica Kauffman, was a Swiss Neoclassical painter who had a successful career in London and Rome. Remembered primarily as a history painter, ...
in the character of the goddess Ceres. The work which can be found in St Mary's University Twickenham.
In 1800, an unknown artist (possibly Kauffman) completed a painting with the same composition as the sketch. The painting preceded her launch into Society and her entrance onto the marriage market.
In 1767 she married
John Damer, the son of Lord Milton, later the
1st Earl of Dorchester. The couple received an income of £5,000 from Lord Milton, and were left large fortunes by Milton and Henry Conway.
Damer was described as a poor businessman, who had a taste for expensive clothing. The marriage was not a successful one. The couple had no children and separated after seven years.
In 1775, Anne was included in a painting titled ''The Three Witches form Macbeth'' by Daniel Gardner (c.1750–1805), which can be found in The National Portrait Gallery, London. The work shows her next to other ladies of high society: Elizabeth Lamb, Viscountess Melbourne and Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire.
Anne's husband committed suicide in 1776, leaving considerable debts. As a widow, Anne benefitted from a prenuptial agreement whereby her father-in-law was obliged to pay her £2500 a year. This money allowed her to be financially independent, and continue her artistic career.
Whilst immersing herself in sculpture, she still found time for a full social life, on a more intellectual plane than that of her earlier married years.
Anne was a frequent visitor to Europe. In 1779, she had watched from the deck, a four-hour running gunfight between a French privateer and the cross Channel packet boat on which she was travelling.
During one voyage she was captured by a
privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
, but released unharmed in
Jersey
Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the ...
. In 1790–91, she travelled alone through Portugal and Spain and back through revolutionary France. She visited
Sir Horace Mann in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...
, and
Sir William Hamilton in
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...
, where she was introduced to
Lord Nelson.
In 1801, she published a novel, ''Belmour'', a book she had written in Lisbon. It ran in three editions and was translated into French.
In 1802, while the
Treaty of Amiens
The Treaty of Amiens (french: la paix d'Amiens, ) temporarily ended hostilities between France and the United Kingdom at the end of the War of the Second Coalition. It marked the end of the French Revolutionary Wars; after a short peace it s ...
was in effect, she visited
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
with the author
Mary Berry and was granted an audience with
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...
.
A fluent French speaker, Anne became friends with Josephine Buonaparte. They corresponded about gardening and plants, mostly in connection to Josephine's garden at Malmaison. Anne had also discussed this with Sir Joseph Banks, one of the founders of the Royal Horticultural Society. A sculptural bust she made of Banks can be found in The British Museum.
In 1815, she travelled to Elba, the island where Napoleon had been exiled. She travelled there despite the ongoing war between France and Britain. The Emperor gifted her a snuffbox featuring his portrait, which is housed in the British Museum.
When Horace Walpole died in 1797, he left a life interest in Strawberry Hill to Anne. She had the job of recording the contents of Strawberry Hill for the Berry family, who had moved into an adjoining property. Anne used Strawberry Hill as her country house until 1811, which she maintained alongside her central London home in Upper Brook Street. In 1818, she returned to Twickenham, buying York House.
From 1818, Anne Damer lived at
York House, Twickenham. She continued to sculpt until the end of her life. She died, aged 79, in 1828 at her London house, No. 27 Upper
Brook Street, Grosvenor Square. She was buried in the church at
Sundridge, Kent
Sundridge is a village within the civil parish of Sundridge with Ide Hill, in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. The village is located on the A25 road to the east of Westerham. It lies within the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural ...
.
According to Richard Webb, she directed in her will that her correspondence by destroyed and that she be buried with the bones of her dog and her sculpting tools.
Works
The development of Anne Seymour Damer's interest in sculpture is credited to
David Hume
David Hume (; born David Home; 7 May 1711 NS (26 April 1711 OS) – 25 August 1776) Cranston, Maurice, and Thomas Edmund Jessop. 2020 999br>David Hume" '' Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 18 May 2020. was a Scottish Enlightenment ph ...
(who served as Under-Secretary when her father was
Secretary of State, 1766–1768) and to the encouragement of
Horace Walpole
Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whig politician.
He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twi ...
, who was her guardian during her parents' frequent trips abroad. According to Walpole, her training included lessons in modelling from
Giuseppe Ceracchi
Giuseppe Ceracchi (also known as ''Giuseppe Cirachi'') (4 July 1751 – 30 January 1801) was an Italian sculptor, active in a Neoclassic style in Italy, England and the nascent United States, who was a passionate republican during the American a ...
, in
marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...
carving from
John Bacon, and in
anatomy
Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having i ...
from
William Cumberland Cruikshank
William Cumberland Cruikshank (1745 in Edinburgh – 27 June 1800) was a British physician and anatomist. He was the author of ''The Anatomy of the Absorbing Vessels of the Human Body'', which was first published in 1786.Pilcher, Lewis Stephe ...
.
During the period 1784–1818, Damer exhibited 32 works as an honorary exhibitor at the
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...
. Her work, primarily
bust
Bust commonly refers to:
* A woman's breasts
* Bust (sculpture), of head and shoulders
* An arrest
Bust may also refer to:
Places
* Bust, Bas-Rhin, a city in France
*Lashkargah, Afghanistan, known as Bust historically
Media
* ''Bust'' (magazin ...
s in
Neoclassical style, developed from early
wax sculptures to technically complex ones in works in
terracotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terra ...
,
bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids suc ...
, and marble. Her subjects, largely drawn from friends and colleagues in Whig circles, included
Lady Melbourne
Elizabeth Lamb, Viscountess Melbourne (née Milbanke; 1751 – 1818) was one of the most influential of the political hostesses of the extended Regency period, and the wife of Whig politician Peniston Lamb, 1st Viscount Melbourne. She was the ...
,
Nelson,
Joseph Banks
Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences.
Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James ...
,
George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
,
Mary Berry,
Charles James Fox
Charles James Fox (24 January 1749 – 13 September 1806), styled '' The Honourable'' from 1762, was a prominent British Whig statesman whose parliamentary career spanned 38 years of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He was the arch-ri ...
and herself. She executed several actors' portraits, such as the busts of her friends
Sarah Siddons and
Elizabeth Farren
Elizabeth Farren (c. 175923 April 1829) was an Irish actress of the late 18th century. Born in Cork in 1759 her father, George Farren was a surgeon. His drinking habits brought on early death and his widow returned to Liverpool. Her mother went ...
(as the
Muse
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in ...
s ''
Melpomene
In Greek mythology, Melpomene (; grc, Μελπομένη, Melpoménē, to sing' or 'the one that is melodious), initially the muse of chorus, eventually became the muse of tragedy, and is now best known in that association.
Etymology
Mel ...
'' and ''
Thalia'').
She produced keystone sculptures of
Isis
Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...
and
Tamesis
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the ...
for each side of the central arch on the
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually someth ...
at
Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckin ...
. The original models are in the Henley Gallery of the
River and Rowing Museum
The River & Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, is located on a site at Mill Meadows by the River Thames. It has three main themes represented by major permanent galleries, the non-tidal River Thames, the international s ...
nearby. Another major architectural work was her 10-foot statue of
Apollo
Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
, now destroyed, for the frontage of
Drury Lane
Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster.
Notable landmarks
T ...
theatre. She also created two ''bas reliefs'' for the
Boydell Shakespeare Gallery
The Boydell Shakespeare Gallery in London, England, was the first stage of a three-part project initiated in November 1786 by engraver and publisher John Boydell in an effort to foster a school of British history painting. In addition to the e ...
of scenes from ''
Coriolanus'' and ''
Antony and Cleopatra
''Antony and Cleopatra'' ( First Folio title: ''The Tragedie of Anthonie, and Cleopatra'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The play was first performed, by the King's Men, at either the Blackfriars Theatre or the Globe Theatre in aroun ...
''.
Damer was also a writer, with one published novel, ''
Belmour'' (first published on 1801).
Gallery
File:Sir Joseph Banks by Anne Seymour Damer.jpg, Sir Joseph Banks by Anne Seymour Damer
File:Anne seymour damer coriolanus.JPG, Engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...
of ''Coriolanus'' (c. 1789) one of two ''bas reliefs'' created by Damer for the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery
The Boydell Shakespeare Gallery in London, England, was the first stage of a three-part project initiated in November 1786 by engraver and publisher John Boydell in an effort to foster a school of British history painting. In addition to the e ...
File:Thames by Anne Seymour Damer.JPG, Sculpture of Tamesis
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the ...
. Downstream keystone of the central arch of Henley Bridge
Henley Bridge is a road bridge built in 1786 at Henley-on-Thames over the River Thames, between Oxfordshire and Berkshire. The bridge has five elliptical stone arches, and links Hart Street in Henley with White Hill (designated the A4130) l ...
File:Anne Seymour Damer (The Damerian Apollo) 1798.jpg, "The Damerian Apollo". 1798 caricature of Anne Seymour Damer chiseling the posterior of a large Apollo.
File:Anne Seymour Damer, by Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792).jpg, Anne Seymour Damer, by Joshua Reynolds
Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depend ...
(1723–1792)
File:Anne Seymour Damer.jpg, Statue of Anne Seymour Damer, by Giuseppe Ceracchi
Giuseppe Ceracchi (also known as ''Giuseppe Cirachi'') (4 July 1751 – 30 January 1801) was an Italian sculptor, active in a Neoclassic style in Italy, England and the nascent United States, who was a passionate republican during the American a ...
Personal life
Damer's friends included a number of influential Whigs and aristocrats. Her guardian and friend
Horace Walpole
Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whig politician.
He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twi ...
was a significant figure, who helped foster her career and on his death left her his London villa,
Strawberry Hill Strawberry Hill may refer to:
United Kingdom
*Strawberry Hill, London, England
** Strawberry Hill House, Horace Walpole's Gothic revival villa
**Strawberry Hill railway station
United States
* Strawberry Hill (San Francisco), California
*Strawber ...
. She also moved in literary and theatrical circles, where her friends included the poet and dramatist
Joanna Baillie, the author
Mary Berry, and the actors
Sarah Siddons and
Elizabeth Farren
Elizabeth Farren (c. 175923 April 1829) was an Irish actress of the late 18th century. Born in Cork in 1759 her father, George Farren was a surgeon. His drinking habits brought on early death and his widow returned to Liverpool. Her mother went ...
. She frequently took part in
masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A masq ...
s at the
Pantheon
Pantheon may refer to:
* Pantheon (religion), a set of gods belonging to a particular religion or tradition, and a temple or sacred building
Arts and entertainment Comics
*Pantheon (Marvel Comics), a fictional organization
* ''Pantheon'' (Lone St ...
and amateur theatricals at the London residence of the
Duke of Richmond
Duke of Richmond is a title in the Peerage of England that has been created four times in British history. It has been held by members of the royal Tudor and Stuart families.
The current dukedom of Richmond was created in 1675 for Charles ...
, who was married to her half-sister.
A number of sources have named Damer as being involved in
lesbian
A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...
relationships, particularly relating to her close friendship with Mary Berry, to whom she had been introduced by Walpole in 1789, and with whom she lived together in her later years. Even during her marriage, her likings for male clothing and demonstrative friendships with other women were publicly noted and satirised by hostile commentators such as
Hester Thrale
Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi (née Salusbury; later Piozzi; 27 January 1741 or 16 January 1740 – 2 May 1821),Contemporary records, which used the Julian calendar and the Annunciation Style of enumerating years, recorded her birth as 16 January ...
and in the anonymous pamphlet ''A Sapphick Epistle from Jack Cavendish to the Honourable and most Beautiful, Mrs D—'' (c.1770).
[Rictor Norton (Ed.), "A Sapphick Epistle, 1778", Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook. 1 December 1999, updated 23 February 2003 <> Retrieved on 16 August 2007]
A romance between Damer and
Elizabeth Farren
Elizabeth Farren (c. 175923 April 1829) was an Irish actress of the late 18th century. Born in Cork in 1759 her father, George Farren was a surgeon. His drinking habits brought on early death and his widow returned to Liverpool. Her mother went ...
, who was mentioned by Thrale, is the central storyline in the 2004 novel ''Life Mask'' by
Emma Donoghue.
References
* Seewald, Jan. ''Theatrical Sculpture. Skulptierte Bildnisse berühmter englischer Schauspieler (1750–1850), insbesondere David Garrick und Sarah Siddons''. Herbert Utz Verlag, München 2007, .
External links
Artcyclopedia informationincluding links to artworks
*
Portraits by Anne Seymour Damerat the
National Portrait Gallery, London
The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...
Artwork in
Tate
Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
WWAR information including a
ttp://www.artandarchitecture.org.uk/images/conway/627a270d.html marble sculpture self portraitfrom the
Courtauld Institute of Art
The Twickenham MuseumAnne Damer- socialite to sculptresson MrsDamer.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Damer, Anne Seymour
1748 births
1828 deaths
18th-century British sculptors
19th-century British sculptors
18th-century English women artists
19th-century English women artists
18th-century LGBT people
19th-century LGBT people
Dawson-Damer family
English women sculptors
People from Remenham
People from Sevenoaks
LGBT artists from the United Kingdom