MARY MOSER.
This lady, a member of the Royal Academy in London, is mentioned by the biographers of Nollekens as “skillful in painting flowers, sarcastic when she held the pen.” She liked to visit the illiterate Nollekens, at whose house, with a cup of tea, she occasionally enjoyed the company of Dr. Johnson. Smith does not hesitate to charge her with having set her cap at Fuseli, “but his heart, unfortunately, had already been deeply pierced by Angelica Kauffman.”
She was the daughter of a German artist in enameling, but was educated in England. She was truly wonderful in flower-pieces. The tasteful decorations of some new apartments in Windsor Palace were executed by her hand.
While in London she wrote thus to her friend Mrs. Lloyd:
“Come to London and admire our plumes; we sweep the sky! A duchess wears six feathers, a lady four, and every milkmaid one at each corner of her cap! * * * Fashion is grown a monster; pray tell your operator that your hair must measure just three quarters of a yard from the extremity of one wing to the other.”
Queen Charlotte took particular notice of Miss Moser, and for a considerable time employed her for the decoration of one chamber, which her majesty commanded to be called Miss Moser’s room, and for which the queen paid upward of nine hundred pounds.