Mrs Anne Seymour Damer. nee Conway
A very Rough Timeline - Post in preparation.
Born 1748. Died 1828.
The main thrust here is to examine the movements of Mrs Damer and how they might have coincided with other sculptors of the period including Giuseppi Ceracchi (1751 - 1802), John Bacon I (1740 - 1799) and in particular Joseph Nollekens.
1767, 15 June, Anne Conway marries John Damer. Eldest son of Lord Milton.
1773. Giusseppi Ceracchi (1751 - 1801) arrives in London. He exhibited busts at the R.A. from 1776 - 79. He worked under Agostino Carlini (d.1790) and lodged at his house near at Kings Square Court, Soho Square. JT Smith in Nollekens and his Times . 1828 says - when I was taken to see him, very extensive premises at No. 76, Margaret-street, Cavendish-square.
JT Smith who noted that Ceracchi ‘was the Honourable Mrs
Damer’s master in Nollekens... Vol II p. 120.
The Monument by Carlini to commemorate his wife Caroline, was commissioned by Joseph Damer (father in law of Mrs Damer in 1775 which stands in the north transept of Milton Abbey in Dorset.
1776. Suicide of husband John Damer (b.1744) at the Bedford Arms, Covent Garden.
1778/9. Florence. Little is known about this trip, 13 September Horace Walpole tells her father "you may imagine how happy I am at Mrs D's return....
1780. Terracotta Bust of Niobe (or Niobid). Her first attempt (HW) at making a bust, size 47 cms. signed and dated Anna Damer 1780, Fecit.1781/82. She was in Florence on 21 November, in Rome from late Nov 71 - April 72, returning via Venice 5th May, and Paris, back in England 13 June.
Walpole wrote to Horace Mann in Florence that she was so reserved and modest that ‘we have by accident discovered that she writes Latin like Pliny and is learning Greek. In Italy she will be a prodigy; she models like Bernini, has excelled the moderns in the similitudes of her busts and has lately begun one in marble.’ This probably refers to the Niobid.
1781 - Ceracchi returns to Rome.
1781/82. To Italy with Lady William Campbell, (widow of Lord William Campbell). to Naples, arrived in Florence in early November 71 departed for Rome on 21 Nov.
William Hamilton writes to Horace Walpole on 28 May 1782 referring to her bust of Ceres, taken from a "Sicilian" medallion (disappeared). Mentioned in a letter from WH to HW 25 Feb 1783 regarding a cast sent to Princess Dashkova.
1783. Sculpts a profile medallion of the daughter of Princess Dashkova, perhaps from a sitting of 1781 when Dashkova was in London.
1784. The Portland Stone Thames and Isis Keystones for the bridge at Henley.
1785/6. To Italy - Departing England 30 October, Florence early 1786; in Rome by 24 Jan 86; Naples March/April. Rome in May, Florence 1 Jun; back in England July.
Almost certainly Damer presents the marble self portrait busts to the Uffizi and not in 1778/9 as some authorities suggest
1787. George III statue for the Records House, Edinburgh.
1789, Marble bust of her mother Caroline Campbell, Lady Ailsbury
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The Rhode Island Marble Bust and the Uffizi Self Portrait Marble Bust Compared.
The difficulty here is that the features of her busts are very generalised. The bust of her mother,
