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Lilly Martin Spencer Paintings

1822-1902

Lilly Martin Spencer was a professional artist for over 60 years, painting portraits, still lifes, miniatures and genre scenes. In the 1850s to mid-1860s her genre scenes depicting domestic topics were engraved for wide distribution, spreading her name and fame, and putting her forward as an American claimant to the rich tradition of European genre, especially the Dutch and English schools whose prints graced parlor walls all over the North American continent. Spencer’s genre scenes remain her best remembered work to this day. Generally sunny, bordering sentimental, they conjure the popular image of antebellum American life, the nostalgic mythology of the last decades of a cultural optimism and innocence that ended (if it ever existed) with the Civil War. Spencer’s own story, however, is considerably more nuanced than this snapshot of her career. She was a skilled portraitist, but it is perhaps her still-life work which is most intriguing. It played an important role as a pictorial element in her most famous genre scenes, but until recently, few examples of her dedicated still life subjects have come to light.

(Biography provided by Hirschl & Adler)

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Artist: Lilly Martin Spencer
Lilly Martin Spencer (American, 1822-1902) God Bless My Father Portrait Painting
Lilly Martin Spencer (American, 1822-1902) God Bless My Father Portrait Painting

Lilly Martin SpencerLilly Martin Spencer (American, 1822-1902) God Bless My Father Portrait Painting

$86,800

Lilly Martin Spencer (American, 1822-1902) God Bless My Father Portrait Painting

By Lilly Martin Spencer

Located in Queens, NY

Lilly Martin Spencer (American, 1822-1902) A Rare Portrait God Bless My Father. **Figure 84 from principal book/catalogue on Lilly Martin Spencer. 19th Century. Oil on canvas, signed Lilly Martin Spencer was one of the most popular and American female genre painters in the mid-nineteenth century. She primarily painted domestic scenes, paintings of women and children...

Category

19th Century Academic Lilly Martin Spencer Paintings

Materials

Oil

Lilly Martin Spencer (American, 1822-1902) A Portrait of a Mother and Child
Lilly Martin Spencer (American, 1822-1902) A Portrait of a Mother and Child

Lilly Martin SpencerLilly Martin Spencer (American, 1822-1902) A Portrait of a Mother and Child

$86,800

Lilly Martin Spencer (American, 1822-1902) A Portrait of a Mother and Child

By Lilly Martin Spencer

Located in Queens, NY

Lilly Martin Spencer (American, 1822-1902) A Portrait of a Mother and Child 19th Century. Oil on canvas, signed Lilly Martin Spencer was one of the most popular and American female genre painters in the mid-nineteenth century. She primarily painted domestic scenes, paintings of women and children...

Category

19th Century Romantic Lilly Martin Spencer Paintings

Materials

Oil

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Lilly Martin Spencer paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Lilly Martin Spencer paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Lilly Martin Spencer in oil paint, paint, canvas and more. Not every interior allows for large Lilly Martin Spencer paintings, so small editions measuring 19 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Alex Ross, Kate Sammons, and Robert Riggs. Lilly Martin Spencer paintings prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $85,000 and tops out at $95,000, while the average work can sell for $90,000.

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