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| Mrs. Freeman as Isis England, 1789 The Victoria & Albert Museum |
Just smaller than life-size, this bust is both a portrait of one Mrs Freeman, a good friend of the artist who lived in nearby Fawley Court, Buckinghamshire, and an allegorical depiction of a priestess of the Egyptian god Isis.
The sculptor, Anne Seymour Damer, curiously signed the bust in Greek lettering, which can be translated as “ANNA S. DAMER THE LONDONER MADE IT.” Anne Seymour Damer was the wife of the Hon. John Damer from 1767 until his suicide. After this shock, she trained as a sculptor.
Damer was a cousin of Horace Walpole (1717-1797), who encouraged his cousin’s artistic inclinations/. Walpole bequeathed his country house, Strawberry Hill at Twickenham, to Damer and her sister.
Damer practiced as an amateur--being an aristocratic woman, unable to pursue a real career in the arts. Because of this, she was not given the recognition she deserved. However, she did exhibit at the Royal Academy from 1784 to 1818 and also entertained “careers” as a novelist and stage performer.
The model here--Damer's good friend Mrs. Freeman was mentioned in the diary of a contemporary - the artist Joseph Farington (1747-1821) - as the mistress of the author and engraver Samuel Ireland.
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