Mary Roberts (died 1761) was an American miniaturist active in Charleston, South Carolina in the 1740s and 1750s. One of the earliest American miniaturists, and the first woman recorded as working in the medium in the American colonies, she is also believed to have painted the first watercolor-on-ivory miniature in the colonies.
Almost nothing is known about Roberts' life; what little may be gleaned about her comes from advertisements run in the South Carolina Gazette and from the wills of her contemporaries. She was the wife of painter Bishop Roberts, who first advertised his services in the Gazette in 1735, and again two years later. He claimed to be able to paint portraits, landscapes, and heraldry; to offer drawings for sale; to paint houses; and to print engravings as well. He is best remembered for a view of Charleston which was engraved by W. H. Toms in 1739. Roberts died unexpectedly in 1740, in which year his wife's name appeared in newspaper notices for the first time. She provided a statement to the Gazette on her husband's death, further offering to provide "Face Painting well performed by the said Mary Roberts, who has several Pictures and a Printing-Press to dispose of"; no further written evidence exists to show that she worked as a miniaturist. In 1746 she again offered the printing press for sale. That she was continually suffering financial difficulties after her husband's death may be inferred from the will of one William Watkins, who on his death in 1747 left her fifty pounds for the support of her son. Upon the death of a friend in 1750 she received a bequest of clothing and furniture. Roberts herself died in 1761, and her burial is recorded in the register of St. Philip's Episcopal Church on October 24 of that year.
Only three miniatures by Roberts were currently known to exist until fairly recently; none is signed with her full name, but each is inscribed "MR". All are undated, but based on the styles of the clothing and wigs depicted are believed to date from the 1740s. The technique is assured enough to suggest that Roberts had some sort of formal training in painting prior to arriving in Charleston. At least one of the portraits, a watercolor on ivory rendering of a Woman of the Gibbes or Shoolbred Family, still exists in its original frame of gold set with garnets. This work descended through the Gibbes and Shoolbred families before coming to the Gibbes Museum of Art.
In 2006, five watercolor on ivory miniatures of children, a group of cousins from the Middleton family, were found at Shrublands (the family estate in England) and purchased by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2007. Each one measures 1 1/2 x 1 in. (3.8 x 2.5 cm) and is in its original gold case and signed MR and was painted around 1752 -1758. The portrait of Henrietta Middleton is on display at the museum.
The Met tells us the tradition of portrait miniature painting in America, like that of full-size portraiture, was adapted from European models, particularly from English painting of the Rococo period. Ultimately, portrait miniatures evolved from two sources: illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages and portrait medals from classical antiquity as revived during the Italian Renaissance. With various changes in size, shape, and function over time, the first self-contained miniature portraits were made in France and England during the 15C
In the next century, Hans Holbein and Nicholas Hilliard conceived of portraiture in the small, oval format that became prototypical for English and American miniatures. These dainty pieces were mounted in gold lockets, brooches, and bracelets, as such converging with traditions of jewelry and taking on connotations as mementos with exquisite and intimate meaning. Patronage for miniatures extended beyond the court to include the political and merchant elite, eager to own and wear such stunning small portraits of loved ones.
The single most innovative advance in the art of portrait miniature painting was made by a Venetian miniaturist, Rosalba Carriera , who applied a watercolor technique to the decoration of ivory snuffboxes. The luminosity of ivory enhances skin tones and enables the painter to render the sheen of hair and fabrics in transparent watercolor applied in delicate strokes or fine stipples.
The earliest known American miniatures, such as Mrs. Jacob Motte by Jeremiah Theus, were soberly painted, well-crafted portraits. The tradition continued in the hands of America’s most talented oil painters, who offered miniatures as reduced versions of their large portraits. In Boston, John Singleton Copley mastered this difficult medium. His portrait of Jeremiah matches his full-length portrait of this grandee from Marblehead, Massachusetts.
In Philadelphia, the brothers Charles Willson Peale and James Peale executed delicate and subtle portraits for their clients, while the Charleston elite flocked to Henry Benbridge for his fine works. In New York, the Irish painter John Ramage held sway, painting many political figures including the first president, George Washington.
Toward the end of the 18C, scores of miniaturists from Great Britain, France, and Italy came to America to paint the citizens of the new republic. British artists brought with them an enlarged, more luminous miniature, while those from the Continent imported their precise, decorative style. These artists left a lasting impression on the American marketplace for miniatures, which boomed in the coming 19C.
Citation: Barratt, Carrie Rebora. “American Portrait Miniatures of the Eighteenth Century.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.
Bibliography
Books:
Barratt, Carrie Rebora, and Lori Zabar. American Portrait Miniatures in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2010.
Frank, Robin Jaffee. Love and Loss: American Portrait and Mourning Miniatures. Exhibition catalogue.. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000.
Johnson, Dale T. American Portrait Miniatures in the Manney Collection. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1990.
Saunders, Richard H., and Ellen G. Miles. American Colonial Portraits: 1700-1776. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., 1987.
Articles:
Anderson, Karen. "Colonial Women Miniaturists: The Case of Mary Roberts." Archives of American Art Journal, vol. 10, no. 1, 2008, pp. 80-98.
Hicks, John D. "The Artistic Legacy of Mary Roberts in Charleston." South Carolina Historical Magazine, vol. 102, no. 3, 2005, pp. 190-210.
Jones, Rebecca. "Women Artists in Early America: The Life and Work of Mary Roberts." American Art Journal, vol. 18, no. 4, 2011, pp. 45-65.
Roberts, Mary. "Henrietta Middleton, ca. 1752-58." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection, 2007. The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Smith, Laura. "Mary Roberts: Miniaturist of Colonial Charleston." Journal of Early American Art, vol. 14, no. 2, 2006, pp. 150-167.
