Anne Seymour Damer Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Anne Seymour Damer
Anne Seymour Damer's self-portrait bust at the Vasari Corridor of the Uffizi gallery The Greek inscription reads: ΑΝΝΑ ΣΕΙΜΟΡΙΣ ΔΑΜΕΡ Η ΕΚ ΤΗΣ ΒΡΕΤΤΑΝΙΚΗΣ ΑΥΤΗ ΑΥΤΗΝ ΕΠΟΙΕΙ ("Anne Seymour Damer from Britain, made herself")
Born	Anne Seymour Conway (1748-10-26)26 October 1748 Sevenoaks, Kent, England, Kingdom of Great Britain
Died	28 May 1828(1828-05-28) (aged 79) Mayfair, London, England, United Kingdom
Resting place	St Mary, Church Road, Sundridge, Kent

Anne Seymour Damer (born Anne Seymour Conway; October 26, 1748 – May 28, 1828) was a famous English sculptor. She was once called a 'female genius' by Horace Walpole, a well-known writer. Anne learned sculpture from talented artists like Giuseppe Ceracchi and John Bacon.

Anne was also an author, a traveler, and even worked in theater. She was influenced by the Enlightenment, a time when new ideas about knowledge and freedom were popular. She showed her sculptures regularly at the Royal Academy in London from 1784 to 1818. Anne was good friends with many important people in Georgian society, including Horace Walpole and the politician Charles James Fox.

Anne Seymour Damer: A Talented Sculptor
Images for kids
See Also

Anne Seymour Damer: A Talented Sculptor

Early Life and Education

Anne Seymour Conway was born in Sevenoaks into a wealthy and influential family. Her father, Field-Marshal Henry Seymour Conway, held important government positions. Her mother was Caroline Bruce, Lady Ailesbury. Anne's father was related to Robert Walpole, who was Britain's first prime minister.

Horace Walpole, Robert Walpole's son, was Anne's godfather. She spent a lot of her childhood at his home, Strawberry Hill. Anne grew up at her family's home, Park Place, in Remenham, Berkshire. She received an excellent education at home. By the time she was seventeen, she was introduced to high society.

In 1766, when she was 17, artist Angelica Kauffman drew a picture of Anne as the goddess Ceres. This drawing is now at St Mary's University, Twickenham. A painting with the same design was made in 1800, possibly by Kauffman. This painting was created before Anne became a part of formal society and looked for a husband.

In 1767, Anne married John Damer. He was the son of Lord Milton, who later became the 1st Earl of Dorchester. The couple received a good income from Lord Milton. They also inherited large amounts of money from Milton and Henry Conway. John Damer was not good with money and liked expensive clothes. Their marriage was not happy, and they had no children. They separated after seven years.

In 1775, Anne was included in a painting called The Three Witches from Macbeth by Daniel Gardner. This painting is in the National Portrait Gallery, London. It shows Anne with other important ladies of society, like Elizabeth Lamb, Viscountess Melbourne and Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire.

After her husband's death, Anne became financially independent. This allowed her to focus on her artistic career. Even though she spent a lot of time sculpting, she still had a busy social life.

A Life of Art and Travel

Anne often traveled to Europe. In 1779, she watched a four-hour gunfight between a French privateer (a private armed ship) and the cross-Channel packet boat (a mail boat) she was on. During another trip, a privateer captured her, but she was released safely in Jersey. From 1790 to 1791, she traveled alone through Portugal and Spain. She also went through revolutionary France. She visited Sir Horace Mann in Florence and Sir William Hamilton in Naples. There, she met Lord Nelson, a famous British admiral.

In 1801, Anne published a novel called Belmour. She had written this book in Lisbon. It was printed three times and translated into French.

In 1802, during a time of peace called the Treaty of Amiens, Anne visited Paris. She went with the author Mary Berry. While there, she met Napoleon, the leader of France.

Anne spoke French very well and became friends with Josephine Buonaparte, Napoleon's wife. They wrote letters to each other about gardening and plants. Anne had also talked about gardening with Sir Joseph Banks, who helped start the Royal Horticultural Society. Anne made a sculpture of Banks, which you can see in the British Museum.

In 1815, Anne traveled to Elba, the island where Napoleon was sent away. She went there even though France and Britain were still at war. Napoleon gave her a snuff box with his picture on it. This box is now in the British Museum.

Life at Strawberry Hill

When Horace Walpole died in 1797, he left Anne the right to live at Strawberry Hill for the rest of her life. She was also in charge of listing everything inside Strawberry Hill for the Berry family. Anne used Strawberry Hill as her country home until 1811. She also kept her main London home in Upper Brook Street. In 1818, she moved back to Twickenham and bought York House.

From 1818, Anne Damer lived at York House, Twickenham. She continued to sculpt until she died. She passed away at age 79 in 1828 at her London house. She was buried in the church at Sundridge, Kent.

According to Richard Webb, Anne asked in her will for her letters to be destroyed. She also asked to be buried with the bones of her dog and her sculpting tools.

Her Amazing Sculptures

Anne Seymour Damer's interest in sculpture grew with encouragement from David Hume and Horace Walpole. Walpole was her guardian and helped her career. According to Walpole, Anne learned modeling from Giuseppe Ceracchi. She learned marble carving from John Bacon. She also studied anatomy with William Cumberland Cruikshank.

From 1784 to 1818, Damer showed 32 of her works at the Royal Academy. Her sculptures were mostly busts (head and shoulders) in a Neoclassical style. This style was inspired by ancient Greek and Roman art. She started with wax sculptures and later made more complex works from terracotta, bronze, and marble.

Her subjects were often her friends and important people from her social circle. These included Lady Melbourne, Nelson, Joseph Banks, George III, Mary Berry, Charles James Fox, and herself. She also created sculptures of actors, such as her friends Sarah Siddons and Elizabeth Farren. She showed them as the Muses Melpomene (the muse of tragedy) and Thalia (the muse of comedy).

Anne also created large sculptures for buildings. She made keystone sculptures of Isis and Tamesis for each side of the main arch on the Henley Bridge at Henley-on-Thames. The original models are in the Henley Gallery of the River and Rowing Museum. Another big work was her 10-foot statue of Apollo for the front of the Drury Lane theatre. This statue is now gone. She also made two bas-reliefs (sculptures that stick out slightly from a flat surface) for the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery. These showed scenes from Shakespeare's plays Coriolanus and Antony and Cleopatra.

Damer was also a writer. Her novel, Belmour, was first published in 1801.