Spencer, Lilly Martin, 1822-1902

Lilly Martin Spencer (1824-1902) grew up in Marietta, Ohio. She was a child prodigy in art, and in 1841 she moved to Cincinnati to formally study art. She married Benjamin Spencer Rush, a cloth merchant and tailor, in 1844. In 1848 they moved to New York. Spencer was determined to make a career as a painter, and over time she achieved popular and financial success. Many of her works were reproduced and distributed as inexpensive lithographs and engravings.

Portrait and genre painter; New York and Ohio.

Lilly Martin Spencer was born Angelique Marie Martin November 22, 1822, in England to French parents, Giles and Angelique Martin, followers of the French social critic Charles Fournier. The family came to New York in 1830, moving to Marietta, Ohio in 1833, and in 1845, co-founded the communal settlement, Trumbull Phalanx, near Braceville, Ohio. Spencer returned to New York in 1848 after her marriage to Benjamin Spencer, and achieved much success as a painter while raising seven children and moving several times -- to Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, Newark, N.J., and Highlands and Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Spencer died May 22, 1902.

Portrait and genre painter; New York and Ohio.

Lilly Martin Spencer was born Angelique Marie Martin November 22, 1822, in England to French parents, Giles and Angelique Martin, followers of the French social critic Charles Fournier. The family came to New York in 1830, moving to Marietta, Ohio in 1833, and in 1845, co-founded the communal settlement, Trumbull Phalanx, near Braceville, Ohio. Spencer returned to New York in 1848 after her marriage to Benjamin Spencer, and achieved much success as a painter while raising seven children and moving several times -- to Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, Newark, N.J., and Highlands and Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Spencer died May 22, 1902.

Spencer was a portrait and genre painter; New York, N.Y. and Ohio.

She was born Angelique Marie Martin November 26, 1822, in England to French parents, Giles and Angelique Martin, followers of the French social critic, Charles Fourier. Upon emigrating to the U.S. in 1830, and moving to Marietta, Ohio in 1833, the Martins, along with others active in the cooperative movement organized a communal association, Trumbull Phalanx, near Braceville, Ohio in 1845, and became active in women's rights and other reform movements. Spencer chose to concentrate on painting, first in Cincinatti and then in New York in 1848 with her husband Benjamin Rush Spencer, a cloth merchant. She maintained a successful painting career while raising seven children and moving several times, to Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, Newark, N.J., and Highlands and Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Spencer died May 22, 1902.