Lilly Martin Spencer

Why this artist matters now

Lilly Martin Spencer was one of the most popular and widely reproduced American female genre painters in the mid-nineteenth century. She primarily painted domestic scenes, paintings of women and children in a warm happy atmosphere, although over the course of her career she would also come to paint works of varying style and subject matter, including the portraits of famous individuals such as suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Although she did have an audience for her work, Spencer had difficulties earning a living as a professional painter and faced financial trouble for much of her adult life.

Source: Smithsonian Institution · Trust score: 90% · Updated 1mo ago