Miss Martin was married in Cincinnati to Mr. Spencer. When surrounded by the cares of a young family she continued to paint, but her style changed. At first her pictures had been poetical and semi-allegorical. She liked to embody some suggestive idea, or a whole history, in a group, as in several of her scenes from Shakspeare. Her “Water Sprite,” representing the escape of Spring from Winter, is of this class. After she became a mother, her taste was more for bits of domestic life, and she found matter-of-fact pictures more salable than her cherished ideals.
After living some seven years in Cincinnati, Mrs. Spencer returned with her family to New York, stopping a year in Columbus, Ohio, where she painted portraits and fancy-pieces. In New York she visited the Academy for the purpose of improving herself by drawing after the antique, often going in the evening, as her labors and cares absorbed her during the day, and sitting among the male art-students. One, who noticed the quiet, modest-looking girl at work, undertook to point out the best models, but soon discovered he was trying to teach his superior. She was made a member of the Academy. Her “May Queen” and “Choose Between” were much praised in the Art Union Exhibition. “The Jolly Washerwoman,” sold by that institution, became celebrated. It was painted impromptu from a scene in the artist’s own kitchen. A connoisseur was so much pleased with one of her pictures that he insisted on paying more than was asked for it.
“The Flower Girl” and “Domestic Felicity,” exhibited in Philadelphia, elicited general admiration, and proved Mrs. Spencer’s possession of the highest order of talent. A connoisseur remarked that the latter picture excelled any other production that had appeared in the gallery since its first opening. Its vigor and freshness were as remarkable as its rich and harmonious coloring, while the drawing and composition were pronounced admirable. It represented a mother and father bending over their sleeping children, and several artists observed that they knew of no one who could surpass the painting of the mother’s hand. The managers of the Art Union in Philadelphia were so delighted with this picture that a few of their number privately subscribed to purchase it, the rules not allowing directors to expend the funds except for paintings selected by the prizeholders. It was afterward sold to an association in the West. The Western Art Union purchased several of Mrs. Spencer’s works, and had one engraved for their annual presentation plate.
Mrs. Spencer found her kitchen scenes so popular that she adopted that comic, familiar style in many of her paintings. “Shake Hands?” represents a girl making pastry, and holding out her floured hand with a humorous smile. This manner the artist has been obliged to adhere to on account of the ready sale of such pictures, while the subjects that better pleased her own taste have been neglected. Yet she has contrived to introduce a moral into every one of her comic pieces. “The Contrast” embodies a touching story. It is in two pictures: one showing a pampered, petulant little dog, barking at some intruder from his velvet cushion surrounded by silken draperies; the other, a meagre, skin-and-bone animal, creeping through the pitiless snow-storm in search of food for its young ones. Mrs. Spencer excels in her pictures of different animals.
Some time ago Mrs. Spencer made a series of original designs—twenty or thirty—illustrative of scenes in the volumes of “The Women of the American Revolution.” All these have not yet been published. Perhaps more of her paintings have been engraved than of any American artist. All are of her own composition, and most of them are domestic scenes. One called “Pattycake” shows a young mother, with her baby on her lap, teaching it to clap its hands; another, “Both at Play,” represents a father teasing his little girl by holding an air-balloon just out of her reach. These are done in the highly-finished German style adopted by Mrs. Spencer. She usually takes her own children for models.
“The Captive” exhibits a slave in market, her master lifting the veil that concealed her charms. Its touching expression is admirable. “Reading the Legend” shows a lovely lady listening to a reading within view of a noble castle; but we do not like the taste of either the costume or the attitude of the reader.
Mrs. Spencer encountered serious difficulties in New York before she acquired the fame she now enjoys. In 1858 she purchased a lovely place in a retired part of Newark, New Jersey, where she now resides with her happy family. Her studio is at the foot of her garden, a large building, with its walls covered by sketches, casts, etc., where the artist labors assiduously. Visitors from distant cities come here to see her paintings, and she usually has several in progress at the same time. “The Gossips,” a large painting de genre, with ten figures of women and children, has attracted much attention. The scene represents the yard of a tenement-building, where women are engaged in washing, preserving fruit, cooking, and other sorts of work. They have gathered into a group to listen to some tale of scandal from a stranger, with a basket of bread; and the children are getting into mischief the while. A little boy has fallen into the bluing-tub of clothes, while a younger girl is laughing violently at his mishap; a dog has laid hold of the meat a boy has forgotten to look after, and a cat in the window is skimming the pan of milk. The peaches in a basket in the foreground look as if they might be picked out and eaten, so rich and fresh is the coloring. The effect of light on one of the female figures is exquisitely beautiful. The whole picture is highly finished, and its merits are enough to make a reputation for any artist.
Mrs. Spencer’s pictures may be seen in many of the shops where works of art are for sale, and the prints engraved from them are very numerous. She has now a prospect of independence and success before her, and may achieve triumphs greater than any she has yet accomplished.
LOUISA LANDER.
This young lady is a native of Salem, Massachusetts, and descended from some of the oldest and most respected families of that good old town. She is a daughter of Edward Lander and Eliza West, whose father was claimed as a relative, while on a visit to London, by Sir Benjamin West.