Jane Anthony Davis (September 2, 1821 – April 1855) was an American artist. Until 1981 she was known only as J. A. Davis. Davis was born Jane Anthony in

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined wit ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

, the daughter of Giles Anthony and Sara Robinson Greene. In 1838, she briefly attended the Warren Ladies Seminary (in Rhode Island). She married Edward Nelson Davis of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

on February 1, 1841, and lived with him in that town for a time. On January 10, 1842, she gave birth to a child. The family moved to

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in some religions * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

, Rhode Island; there she gave birth to another child, her second, on April 26, 1847. In August 1854 she produced her last portrait, of Luella Hodges. She died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

eight months later, and was buried in

Swan Point Cemetery Swan Point Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Established in 1846 on a 60-acre (0.24 km2) plot of land, it has approximately 40,000 interments. History The cemetery was first organize ...

in Providence. It was common for women artists of the era to sign their work using only their initials, and Davis was no different in this regard; consequently, it was for many years assumed that she was male. In 1981, collectors Sybil and Arthur Kern identified the artist by name, further confirming their identification with two later reports. She produced miniature portraits, working in

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting metho ...

and pencil. Most of Davis's subjects are depicted in three-quarter view, at bust length. Often they are clothed in black. Several characteristics appear in many of her depictions: a ragged part in the hair, bluish coloring of the eyelids, a wide and colored horizontal band below the bust, and negative space between the subject's arms and body. The artist sometimes incorporated flowers into her compositions. Many pieces were signed and dated; some also included the subject's name. Davis is known to have produced over 200 portraits, mostly of residents of the areas in which she lived. Three of her unsigned pieces were at one time mistakenly attributed to James Ellsworth, and later to Alexander Emmons; three others were mistakenly attributed to Joseph H. Davis and Eben Davis. An undated portrait by Davis, ''Lady Seated in a Boston Rocker'', is owned by the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

. Another piece, a family portrait, appeared on ''

Antiques Roadshow ''Antiques Roadshow'' is a British television programme broadcast by the BBC in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom (and occasionally in other countries) to appraise antiques brought in by local people ( ...

'' in 2003, where it was appraised at between $25,000 and $35,000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Jane Anthony 1821 births 1855 deaths 19th-century American painters 19th-century American women painters American watercolorists American women watercolorists People from Warwick, Rhode Island People from Norwich, Connecticut Artists from Providence, Rhode Island Painters from Rhode Island Painters from Connecticut 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in Rhode Island Burials at Swan Point Cemetery