Lilly Martin Spencer: The 19th Century’s Favorite Genre Painter

Lilly Martin Spencer was born in England to French parents Gilles Marie Martin and Angelique Le Petit Martin on November 26, 1822. The Martins were followers of the philosopher and socialist thinker Charles Fourier and promoted abolition, women’s rights, and temperance. The family emigrated to the United States and eventually settled in Marietta, Ohio when Lilly was 8 years old. Lilly and her two brothers were home schooled, and Lilly was encouraged to pursue her interest in art. She studied with Marietta painters Sala Bosworth and Charles Sullivan, and in 1841 she travelled to Cincinnati to study with James Beard.

Lilly Martin married Benjamin Rush Spencer in 1844. Together they had 13 children, of which 7 survived to adulthood. Lilly supported the family with her painting, and Benjamin acted as her business manager and helped with domestic duties so Lilly could focus on her career.

In 1848 the family moved to New York City where Lilly had already shown work at the National Academy of Design and the American Art-Union. After moving to New York, Spencer began focusing on domestic scenes in her paintings and often used her own family and household servants as models. These domestic scenes made Spencer one of the most popular painters of her time. In 1854 American Art-Union began producing lithographs of her paintings, making Spencer’s work available to a wider audience. In addition to her paintings and lithographs, Spencer was also hired to do some illustration work for magazines and books.

Spencer’s domestic paintings waned in popularity in the decades after the Civil War, and she shifted to painting more landscapes and portraits, including portraits of suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton and First Lady Caroline Harrison. Although her paintings were extremely popular, Spencer struggled with financial difficulties throughout her adult life. She continued painting until her death on May 22, 1902 at the age of 80.

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Thank you to Katy Scullin, Ohio Memory Program Coordinator at the Ohio History Connection, for this week’s post!