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The Honorable Mrs. Anne Seymour Damer
The Honorable Mrs. Anne Seymour Damer
Object number1996.22

The Honorable Mrs. Anne Seymour Damer

Date1779
Artist (English, 1734-1802)
CultureEnglish
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 29 15/16 x 25 3/16 in. (76 x 64 cm)
Framed: 37 3/8 x 32 5/16 x 2 3/4 in. (95 x 82 x 7 cm)
Credit LineBequest of Sally Butzel Lewis, class of 1934
On View
On view
Period18th c
Classification(s)
InscribedInscribed: (C, B frame member): HONBLE MRS DAMER.; (verso, UC, frame, on label): LADY ANNE DAMER by Romney/Received from Leo Butzel/6-18-54/Property of Mrs. Leonard T. Lewis; (verso, UR, frame, on label): Exhibition of Works of....(torn off)/Leeds, 1868./No. of... or Van:...(illegible)/No. of Object:...(illegible); UC, backing board, on label: To/Lady Damer/by Romey/ property of:/Mrs. Leonard T. Lewis; (tag hanging from wire): DIA; L1983.51; (verso, UR, T stretcher bar, under backing board, on label): 1077
Catalogue raisonnéWard & Roberts (1904) vol. 2 p. 40BibliographyMundy, James, The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center: Vassar College The History and Collection (New York: Prestel Publishing, 2007), p. 65 repr.; Ward & Roberts, Romney, A Biographical and Critical Essay with a Catalogue Raisonne. 1904, v. 2, p. 40 Kidson, Alex, George Romney - A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings (London: The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art by Yale University Press, 2015), p. 172. repr. fig. 336. ProvenanceCommissioned by Charles 3rd Duke of Richmond;
Remained at his estate, Goodwood (sources: Ward & Roberts, Romney, A Biographical and Critical Essay with a catalogue RaisonnT, 1904);
Purchased by Leo Butzel, 1932
Exhibition HistoryLeeds Art Treasures Exhibition, 1868, No. 1077
Label TextThe sitter in this portrait, Anne Seymour Damer (born Conway, 1748-1828), was an artist born into an aristocratic family in Berkshire. Early on she studied modeling, carving, and anatomy and made frequent trips to Europe. After her estranged husband died, Damer accelerated her training as a sculptor, and eventually made numerous busts and statues of well-known figures such as King George III, Whig politician Charles James Fox, and bronze, portraying sitters in the neoclassical style, as in the rendering of her friend Mrs. Freeman as Isis. In 1797, she inherited Strawberry Hill, the Gothic Revival country estate of her cousin Horace Walpole (1717-1797). Though she exhibited at the Royal Academy, she practiced sculpting as an amateur and not as a professional, as was typical of aristocratic women. The artist George Romney was a leading society portraitist and imaginative history painter in Britain in the late eighteenth century. This portrait of her was commissioned by her brother-in-law, the Duke of Richmond. She sat to Romney five times between 21 April and 9 June 1779. The portrait resided at Goodwood, the Duke of Richmond’s estate, until 1932, when it was purchased by the father of its Vassar donor. Romney was not the only artist to capture Mrs. Damer’s likeness, as she was also painted by Angelica Kauffmann, Richard Cosway, Joshua Reynolds, and Giuseppe Ceracchi.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu