Maria Flaxman (1768 – 17 April 1833) was a British painter and illustrator.

Life

Maria, also noted as Mary Ann or Maria T Flaxman, was the half-sister of the sculptor

John Flaxman John Flaxman (6 July 1755 – 7 December 1826) was a British sculptor and draughtsman, and a leading figure in British and European Neoclassicism. Early in his career, he worked as a modeller for Josiah Wedgwood's pottery. He spent several yea ...

. She was influenced by his work and assisted him in the last years of his life. Maria Flaxman was employed as a

governess A governess is a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching; depending on terms of their employment, they may or ma ...

to the Hare-Naylor family while they were living in Italy and at

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

. In 1810 she moved to John Flaxman's house at Buckingham Street, just off The Strand in

Central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning the City of London and several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local gove ...

, residing there until his death. She is best known for six designs engraved by

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake has become a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of the Roma ...

, illustrations published in the 1803 edition of William Hayley's ''Triumphs of Temper.'' Her works were contributed to the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

between 1780 and 1819, primarily designs for illustration of poetry and romance. Lausanne1806-title by Maria Flaxman

In his ''Life of Blake'', Alexander Gilchrist describes the work for Hayley's poem, finally issued in 1807,

"These amateur designs, aiming at an idealized domesticity, are expressive and beautiful in the Flaxman- Stothard manner; abound in grace of line, elegance of composition, and other artist-like virtues of a now obsolete sort."

There is a self portrait on ivory in the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. When it opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world th ...

and a diary from 1806 in the Bodleian Library.

References

External links

*Illustrations i
''The Butterfly's Funeral''
J. L. B. and

William Roscoe William Roscoe (8 March 175330 June 1831) was an English banker, lawyer, and briefly a Member of Parliament. He is best known as one of England's first abolitionists, and as the author of the poem for children '' The Butterfly's Ball, and th ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flaxman, Maria 1768 births 1833 deaths 18th-century English women artists 19th-century English women artists British women illustrators English illustrators