Anna Mary Howitt
Encyclopedia
Anna Mary Howitt was an English painter, writer and feminist.
(1792–1879) and Mary Botham
(1799–1888). She was born in Nottingham
, but spent much of her childhood in Esher
. Howitt showed early talent and entered Henry Sass
's Art Academy in London in 1846, where her contemporaries included William Holman Hunt
, Dante Gabriel Rossetti
and Thomas Woolner
. She then accompanied her fellow artist Jane Benham
to Munich
, where she studied under Wilhelm von Kaulbach
. She also began to publish articles about the city that were later collected into An Art-Student in Munich (1853), as well as serialized stories with her own illustrations, which appeared in the Illustrated Magazine of Art (1853-4).
An Art-Student in Munich was a success. According to The New York Times (11 May 1854), "All that is peculiar to Munich, - its museums, galleries, festivals, and works of art, - or to German life, whether in high or low degree, and still more to the cultivation of the artist, is told in these pages with a beautiful earnestness and a naive simplicity, that have a talismanic effect upon the reader. It is one of those sunny works which leave a luminous trail behind them in the reader's memory." Howitt was under twin influences at this stage in her life, being "connected on the one hand with the social and publishing circles of her parents, the hard-working pillars of the London literary establishment, and on the other hand with a group of forward-looking, feminist women of her own age."
The younger group with whom Howitt became associated were the Langham Place
feminists, notably her close friend the artist Barbara Leigh Smith
, along with whom she joined Rossetti's Folio Club. Howitt made her exhibition debut at the National Institution of Fine Arts
in 1854, with a painting inspired by Goethe's Faust
. Her painting The Castaway (Royal Academy
, 1855) was unusual in depicting a woman who has sunk into prostitution. In 1856 she helped Leigh Smith to collect signatures for a petition that would lead to the Married Women's Property Act 1870
. Criticism of her work from John Ruskin
, rejection of a major painting by the Royal Academy, and the marriage of her friend Leigh Hunt contributed to a mental breakdown in 1857, after which she ceased to be an active artist.
. They shared literary ambitions that resulted in Aurora: a Volume of Verse (1884). This reflected a new-found interest in spiritualism
, to which her parents had turned in the early 1850s, as did her book Pioneers of the Spiritual Reformation (1883), which consisted of biographical sketches of the German poet Justinus Kerner
and of her father William Howitt
, but whose other purpose was to promote spiritualism, mesmerism
and similar phenomena. Some contemporaries suggested that she suffered from periodic mental illness in later life.
Anna Mary Watts died of diphtheria in 1884 at Mair am Hof in Dietenheim (Bruneck), since 1919 part of Italy, during a visit to her mother in Tyrol
.
Artist and feminist
Anna Mary Howitt was the eldest surviving child of the prolific Quaker writers and publishers William HowittWilliam Howitt
William Howitt , was an English author.He was born at Heanor, Derbyshire. His parents were Quakers, and he was educated at the Friends public school at Ackworth, Yorkshire. His younger brothers were Richard and Godrey whom he helped tutor. In 1814 he published a poem on the Influence of Nature and...
(1792–1879) and Mary Botham
Mary Howitt
Mary Howitt was an English poet, and author of the famous poem The Spider and the Fly. She was born Mary Botham at Coleford, in Gloucestershire, the temporary residence of her parents, while her father, Samuel Botham, a prosperous Quaker of Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, was looking after some mining...
(1799–1888). She was born in Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
, but spent much of her childhood in Esher
Esher
Esher is a town in the Surrey borough of Elmbridge in South East England near the River Mole. It is a very prosperous part of the Greater London Urban Area, largely suburban in character, and is situated 14.1 miles south west of Charing Cross....
. Howitt showed early talent and entered Henry Sass
Henry Sass
Henry Sass was an English artist and teacher of painting, who founded an important art school, Sass's Academy , in London, to provide training for those seeking to enter the Royal Academy. Many distinguished British painters received their early training here...
's Art Academy in London in 1846, where her contemporaries included William Holman Hunt
William Holman Hunt
William Holman Hunt OM was an English painter, and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.-Biography:...
, Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais, and was later to be the main inspiration for a second generation of artists and writers influenced by the movement,...
and Thomas Woolner
Thomas Woolner
Thomas Woolner RA was an English sculptor and poet who was one of the founder-members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was the only sculptor among the original members....
. She then accompanied her fellow artist Jane Benham
Jane Benham Hay
Jane Benham was a prominent female painter and illustrator of the Victorian period. She was associated with two important artistic movements of the mid-nineteenth century: the Pre-Raphaelite painters of Britain, and the Macchiaioli of Italy.Jane Benham was born in London in 1829 to a family of...
to Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, where she studied under Wilhelm von Kaulbach
Wilhelm von Kaulbach
Wilhelm von Kaulbach was a German painter, noted mainly as a muralist, but also as a book illustrator. His murals decorate buildings in Munich.-Education:...
. She also began to publish articles about the city that were later collected into An Art-Student in Munich (1853), as well as serialized stories with her own illustrations, which appeared in the Illustrated Magazine of Art (1853-4).
An Art-Student in Munich was a success. According to The New York Times (11 May 1854), "All that is peculiar to Munich, - its museums, galleries, festivals, and works of art, - or to German life, whether in high or low degree, and still more to the cultivation of the artist, is told in these pages with a beautiful earnestness and a naive simplicity, that have a talismanic effect upon the reader. It is one of those sunny works which leave a luminous trail behind them in the reader's memory." Howitt was under twin influences at this stage in her life, being "connected on the one hand with the social and publishing circles of her parents, the hard-working pillars of the London literary establishment, and on the other hand with a group of forward-looking, feminist women of her own age."
The younger group with whom Howitt became associated were the Langham Place
Langham Place, London
Langham Place is a street in Westminster, central London, England. It connects Portland Place to the north with Regent Street to the south in London's West End.- Buildings :...
feminists, notably her close friend the artist Barbara Leigh Smith
Barbara Bodichon
Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon was an English educationalist, artist, and a leading early nineteenth century feminist and activist for women's rights.-Early life:...
, along with whom she joined Rossetti's Folio Club. Howitt made her exhibition debut at the National Institution of Fine Arts
National Institution of Fine Arts
The National Institution of Fine Arts was a short-lived Victorian-era art society founded in London to provide alternative exhibition space for artists...
in 1854, with a painting inspired by Goethe's Faust
Goethe's Faust
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust is a tragic play in two parts: and . Although written as a closet drama, it is the play with the largest audience numbers on German-language stages...
. Her painting The Castaway (Royal Academy
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
, 1855) was unusual in depicting a woman who has sunk into prostitution. In 1856 she helped Leigh Smith to collect signatures for a petition that would lead to the Married Women's Property Act 1870
Married Women's Property Act 1870
The Married Women's Property Act 1870 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that allowed women to legally be the rightful owners of the money they earned and to inherit property.-Background:...
. Criticism of her work from John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
, rejection of a major painting by the Royal Academy, and the marriage of her friend Leigh Hunt contributed to a mental breakdown in 1857, after which she ceased to be an active artist.
Writer and spiritualist
In 1859, Howitt married a childhood friend, the revenue officer Alaric Alfred Watts (b. 1823-4) and moved with him to ChelseaChelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...
. They shared literary ambitions that resulted in Aurora: a Volume of Verse (1884). This reflected a new-found interest in spiritualism
Spiritualism
Spiritualism is a belief system or religion, postulating the belief that spirits of the dead residing in the spirit world have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living...
, to which her parents had turned in the early 1850s, as did her book Pioneers of the Spiritual Reformation (1883), which consisted of biographical sketches of the German poet Justinus Kerner
Justinus Kerner
Justinus Andreas Christian Kerner was a German poet and medical writer.-Life:He was born at Ludwigsburg in Württemberg...
and of her father William Howitt
William Howitt
William Howitt , was an English author.He was born at Heanor, Derbyshire. His parents were Quakers, and he was educated at the Friends public school at Ackworth, Yorkshire. His younger brothers were Richard and Godrey whom he helped tutor. In 1814 he published a poem on the Influence of Nature and...
, but whose other purpose was to promote spiritualism, mesmerism
Franz Mesmer
Franz Anton Mesmer , sometimes, albeit incorrectly, referred to as Friedrich Anton Mesmer, was a German physician with an interest in astronomy, who theorised that there was a natural energetic transference that occurred between all animated and inanimate objects that he called magnétisme animal ...
and similar phenomena. Some contemporaries suggested that she suffered from periodic mental illness in later life.
Anna Mary Watts died of diphtheria in 1884 at Mair am Hof in Dietenheim (Bruneck), since 1919 part of Italy, during a visit to her mother in Tyrol
South Tyrol
South Tyrol , also known by its Italian name Alto Adige, is an autonomous province in northern Italy. It is one of the two autonomous provinces that make up the autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. The province has an area of and a total population of more than 500,000 inhabitants...
.
External resources
- Black-and-white reproduction of AMH's 1849 portrait of fellow artist John BanvardJohn BanvardJohn Banvard was a U.S. panorama and portrait painter known for his panoramic views of the Mississippi River Valley.John Banvard was born in New York and was educated in high school...
(1815-1891): Retrieved 9 July 2011. - The text of An Art-Student in Munich online: Retrieved 9 July 2011.
- The text of The Children's Year by Mary Howitt, illustrated by her daughter Anna Mary Howitt: Retrieved 9 July 2011.