Patience Lovell Wright (1725 – March 23, 1786) was a sculptor of

wax figures A wax sculpture is a depiction made using a waxy substance. Often these are effigies, usually of a notable individual, but there are also death masks and scenes with many figures, mostly in relief. The properties of beeswax make it an exc ...

, and the first recognized American-born sculptor.

Biography

Early life

Patience Lovell was born at

Oyster Bay, New York The Town of Oyster Bay is the easternmost of the three towns which make up Nassau County, New York, United States. Part of the New York metropolitan area, it is the only town in Nassau County to extend from the North Shore to the South Shor ...

, into a Quaker farm family with a vegetarian diet. The family moved to

Bordentown, New Jersey Bordentown is a city in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 3,924.
The Madame Tussaud of the American Colonies Was A Founding Fathers Stalker, Smithsonian.com Weekly Newsletter (29 December 2013) At age 16 she left the family home and moved to Philadelphia, where in 1748 she married Joseph Wright, a Cooper (profession), barrelmaker who was many years her senior. She often amused herself and her children by molding faces out of putty, bread dough, and wax.

Occupation

When Wright's husband died in 1769, she was pregnant with a fourth child and needed a way to support the family. Working with her sister Rachel Wells, who by then was also a widow, she turned her hobby into a full-time occupation. The sisters set up a business molding portraits in tinted wax, a popular art form in colonial America, and charged admission to see them. By 1770 they had become successful enough to open a waxworks house in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and mount tours of their work to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

and Charleston. Contemporary physician

Solomon Drowne Dr. Solomon Drowne (also known as Solomon Drown) (March 11, 1753 – February 5, 1834) was a prominent American physician, academic and surgeon during the American Revolution and in the history of the fledgling United States. Early life D ...

mentions a visit to the waxworks in his journals. Wright's portraits were life-sized figures or busts with real clothing and glass eyes. They were modeled from life and were considered to be very lifelike. They were often placed in tableaux, illustrating the activities the portrayed individual might have undertaken in life. After many of her sculptures were destroyed in a fire in June 1771, Wright relocated to

London, England London is the capital and 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 down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

. Through a relationship with

Jane Mecom Jane Franklin Mecom (March 27, 1712 – May 7, 1794) was the youngest sister of Benjamin Franklin and was considered one of his closest confidants. Mecom and Franklin corresponded for sixty-three years, throughout the course of Ben Franklin's ...

, sister of

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading int ...

, she made her entry into London society. Wright settled in the West End and set up a popular waxworks show of historical tableaux and celebrity wax figures. She was honored with an invitation to model

King 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 B ...

, and would go on to sculpt other members of British royalty and nobility. Although Wright is recorded as creating at least fifty-five works, only her full-length figure of Lord Chatham (William Pitt) is extant.

Public reputation

Wright became known in London society for her rustic American manners, which were a source of both fascination and scandal. She wore wooden shoes, kissed members of both sexes and all classes in greeting, and in general did not follow the contemporary rules of comportment for someone of her class or gender. One rumor held that she had even called the king and queen by their first names, in an outrageous breach of conduct. Her reputation for unruliness led to the nickname "The Promethean Modeler", and she gained a level of celebrity in 18th-century London. Wright famously offended

Abigail Adams Abigail Adams ( ''née'' Smith; November 22, [ O.S. November 11] 1744 – October 28, 1818) was the wife and closest advisor of John Adams, as well as the mother of John Quincy Adams. She was a founder of the United States, a ...

with her overfamiliarity and lack of modesty about her skills. Adams wrote a disparaging letter home describing their encounter, describing her as "the queen of sluts." Wright's technique for sculpting wax contributed to this public conception of her character. She used body heat to keep the wax at a temperature where she could shape it, molding it under her apron in a suggestive manner, which scandalized viewers and was even parodied in newspaper cartoons. The medium itself was a form of "

low art In sociology, the term Low culture identifies the forms of popular culture that have mass appeal, which is in contrast to High culture, which has a limited appeal to a smaller proportion of the populace. Culture theory proposes that both high ...

" and considered unrefined when compared to sculpture in bronze or stone. 7800544B 1

Wright may have used this unconventional public persona as a way to drive business to her waxworks, making savvy use of newspaper coverage to get publicity for her artwork.

Revolutionary War activities

Wright is said to have worked as a spy during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

, sending information back to the colonies inside her wax figures. The accuracy of this legend has been contested. She is known to have corresponded with Benjamin Franklin during the war, sending letters reporting on the health of his illegitimate son,

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, and advocating on behalf of prisoners of war. She also wrote letters to

John Dickinson John Dickinson (November 13 Julian_calendar">/nowiki>Julian_calendar_November_2.html" ;"title="Julian_calendar.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Julian calendar">/nowiki>Julian calendar November 2">Julian_calendar.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Julian calendar" ...

describing the British Army's preparations in England. Wright eventually fell from royal favor as a result of her open support for the colonial cause, especially after she reportedly scolded the king and queen after the

battles of Lexington and Concord The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, ...

. She was an outspoken patriot, and started a fund to support American prisoners of war held in Britain. A group of pro-American activists, including

Lord George Gordon Lord George Gordon (26 December 1751 – 1 November 1793) was a British politician best known for lending his name to the Gordon Riots of 1780. An eccentric and flighty personality, he was born into the Scottish nobility and sat in the Hous ...

Benjamin West Benjamin West, (October 10, 1738 – March 11, 1820) was a British-American artist who painted famous historical scenes such as '' The Death of Nelson'', ''The Death of General Wolfe'', the '' Treaty of Paris'', and '' Benjamin Franklin Drawin ...

, and Anthony Pasquin, would meet at her London workshop to discuss their cause. Wright moved to Paris in 1780, where she modeled a portrait of Benjamin Franklin.

Postwar and death

Wright returned to England in 1782 and settled with her daughter Phoebe and her son-in-law, painter

John Hoppner John Hoppner (4 April 175823 January 1810) was an English portrait painter, much influenced by Reynolds, who achieved fame as a brilliant colourist. Early life Hoppner was born in Whitechapel, London, the son of German parents – his moth ...

at their home on Charles Street at

St. James's Square St James's Square is the only square in the St James's district of the City of Westminster and is a garden square. It has predominantly Georgian and Neo-Georgian architecture. For its first two hundred or so years it was one of the three or fo ...

. By 1785 she had decided to return to New Jersey. However, as she was making preparations to travel, she suffered a bad fall and broke her leg. Wright died a week later, on March 23, 1786. Her sister Rachel attempted to get financial assistance for her burial expenses, both from prominent American citizens and then from the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...

, but was not successful. Wright was buried in London. Her burial place is in the St John's Wood Burial Ground, in St John's Wood, London. Although Wright had obtained George Washington's agreement to sit for a portrait with her, she died before she could sculpt him. A similar request sent to

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

would go unanswered.

Selected works

The fragility of her medium means that few of Wright's works survive today. A full-length figure of William Pitt, produced after the Earl's death, still stands in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

Museum. A bas-relief profile of Admiral Richard Howe in the collection of the Newark Museum is attributed to her. Wright's also made sculptures of Prime Minister William Pitt, Lord Lyttelton, Thomas Penn, and

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 ...

. Wright's patrons included

, Deborah Sampson, the King and Queen of England, and William Pitt. Profile Bust of Benjamin Franklin MET 148780

Legacy

Wright's son Joseph Wright (1756–1793) was a well-known portrait painter who designed

Liberty Cap Cent The Liberty Cap large cent was a type of large cent struck by the United States Mint from 1793 until 1796, when it was replaced by the Draped Bust large cent. The coin features an image of the goddess of Liberty and her accompanying Phrygian c ...

. Her daughter Phoebe married British painter

; their son,

Henry Parkyns Hoppner Captain Henry Parkyns Hoppner (179522 December 1833) was an officer of the Royal Navy, Arctic explorer, draughtsman and artist. His career included two ill-fated voyages culminating in the loss of in 1816 and HMS ''Fury'' in 1825. Early years ...

, went on to become a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

officer and

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

explorer. Her home at 100 Farnsworth Avenue in Bordentown, New Jersey still stands.

In literature

Wright was featured as a character in Lillian de la Torre's story "The Frantick Rebel," part of her series featuring

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

as a detective, with Wright successfully tricking Johnson into supplying information to an American spy.

References

External links

*Burstyn, Joan N. ''Past and Promise: Lives of New Jersey Women'' (Syracuse University Press, 1997) *Kerber, Linda K. ''Toward an Intellectual History of Women: Essays'' (Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1997) * Lepore, Jill. ''Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin'' (Knopf, 2014) *Mays, Dorothy. ''Women In Early America: Struggle, Survival, and Freedom in a New World'' (ABC-CLIO, 2004) *Sellers, Charles Coleman. ''Patience Wright: American Artist and Spy in George III's London'' (Wesleyan University Press, 1976) *''To George Washington from Patience Lovell Wright (8 December 1783)'', Founders Online, National Archives *''To Thomas Jefferson from Patience Wright (14 August 1785)'', Founders Online, National Archives *The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, The American Philosophical Society and Yale University {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Patience 1725 births 1786 deaths 18th-century American women artists American women sculptors People from Bordentown, New Jersey Sculptors from New Jersey People from Oyster Bay (town), New York Sculptors from New York (state) American expatriates in the United Kingdom Accidental deaths from falls Accidental deaths in London People of New York (state) in the American Revolution People of the Province of New York