Mary Black (artist)

Mary Black (c.1737 – 24 November 1814) was an English artist known for her portrait paintings.

Biography
Mary Black in a Sculpture Gallery

Black was born in London the first of two children born to the artist Thomas Black, (1715–1777), and his wife, Mary.[1] By 1760, she was working as an assistant to the artist Allan Ramsay producing copies and reproductions of works by Old Masters.[1][2] She received a commission to paint portraits of Dr. James Mounsey, a physician in the Russian court, and his cousin Dr. Messenger Mounsey.[1] The latter picture, a three-quarters length portrait, survives and is held by the Royal College of Physicians in London. For many years the painting was attributed to her father.[1] In 1768, Black exhibited four portraits with the Society of Artists and went on to become an honorary member of the society.[3]

As well as painting portraits, Black taught painting to members of a number of fashionable, aristocratic families.[3] Financial success allowed her to live independently while maintaining a household with servants and a carriage. She never married and died suddenly at home in London in 1814.[1]

References
  1. Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, Brian, eds. (2004). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Vol. 5 (Belle-Blackman). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-861355-5.
  2. Benezit Dictionary of Artists Volume 2 Bedeschini-Bulow. Editions Grund, Paris. 2006. ISBN 2-7000-3070-2.
  3. Brian Stewart; Mervyn Cutten (1997). The Dictionary of Portrait Painters in Britain up to 1920. Antique Collectors' Club. ISBN 1-85149-173-2.
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