| Show UNCOMMON AMERICANS by elmo aw R t scott tta A newspaper aco watson union first woman painter y look in vain or her name 1 in n the average encyclopedic encyclopedia or dictionary of kmer american ican biography common as Is the name ot of john son in our national annals hen aletta John johnsob sori ia h the least known ol of ill of in this era of the emancipated woman all al fields of human en leavor leaver are open to feminine invade ars auf it was very different ears ago in those days womans comans olice olace was very much in the home and she might not leave it even for or excursions into the arts but bul it was in that field the henrietta ty doing so she placed posterity n y in her debt for she was woman painter we know her name but little else fhe che date of of her death Is recorded n the st philips church register n u charleston S C and that sat Is the established date in her history ay tile the kocl social a I 1 code under which she ghe ned ived a ladys name should nevet never appear in p public bublic print but twice arst to announce her mat mai lago lage and again to announce her death since she never married that leaves us only the date of her death march 9 1728 when and where she she was ws born and whose daughter she was I 1 an unsolved mystery pry we know that she was a pastel painter and in this medium she did work that ri that of some of the famous french masters we know that she was painting these pin pictures tures between 1707 and 1720 since the few surviving examples of her art were made during doring that period and that is a fact act which gives her work importance for in her day the scheme of an hered hereditary american aristocracy was being tried out in carolina and the people whose portraits she made were colonial officers and representatives senta tives of the landed gen try whose great plantations surrounded charleston one of the che notables she painted was col william rhett colonel of the provincial militia receiver gm gen eral of the lords proprietors and the man who in 1718 captured the ile famous pirate steve donnet bonnet a feat which would make the name of rhett forever famous even it soffie of his hii descendants done so so inthe in the more recent history of south carolina just how many portraits aits henrietta henrie e ta J Is not certain b but duttge he known e xa pi her work that have hav for two con cen sare aie so few ordmand prices arices favorably alth those paid or oi 0 the 0 old ma masters of bf europa quite a CT an d historic value they posses a high rarity aidell value because they camp came from the brush bish of amer artherl Arti erl feas cas first fir ii woman painter |
