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Flowers in a basket

Watercolour
1765 (made)
Artist/Maker
Moser, Mary RA
Place of origin
Great Britain (made)

Mary Moser RA (1744-1819) was a renowned British painter and one of only two female Founder members of the Royal Academy as well as its youngest Founder member at just 24. She was celebrated for her vibrant flower paintings and painted portraits and historical subjects as well. By the age of 14, Moser won her first Society of Arts medal, and she regularly exhibited at the Society of Artists of Great Britain. From the Royal Academy’s opening in 1769 until 1802, when her eyesight prevented her from continuing painting, Moser exhibited thirty-six pieces at the Royal Academy. She received a vote for Academy president twice. In 1792, Queen Charlotte paid Mary Moser £900 to decorate the South Pavilion at Frogmore House. Many of her works survive today in the ‘Mary Moser Room’ and across eminent museum collections in Britain and America.

Object details

Category
Watercolours
Object type
Watercolour
TitleFlowers in a basket
Materials and techniques
Bodycolour and watercolour on paper
Watercolour
Gouache
Paper (Fiber Product)
Watercolour Painting (Technique)
Brief description
Watercolour, Flowers in a Basket, by Mary Moser, bodycolour and watercolour, 1765
Physical description
Flowers in a basket, including chrysanthemums, lilies, nigella, convulvulus, delphiniums, signed and dated Mary Moser 1765.
Dimensions
  • Height: 42cm (Note: Taken from Lionel Lambourne, British Watercolours in the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1980)
  • Width: 58.4cm (Note: Taken from Lionel Lambourne, British Watercolours in the V&A, 1980)
  • Gilt frame height: 680mm (Note: FRAME)
  • Gilt frame width: 840cm (Note: FRAME)
Marks and inscriptions
Mary Moser / 1765 (Lower right in gold)
Credit line
The Lady Bettine Abingdon Collection. Bequeathed by Mrs T. R. P. Hole.
Summary
Mary Moser RA (1744-1819) was a renowned British painter and one of only two female Founder members of the Royal Academy as well as its youngest Founder member at just 24. She was celebrated for her vibrant flower paintings and painted portraits and historical subjects as well. By the age of 14, Moser won her first Society of Arts medal, and she regularly exhibited at the Society of Artists of Great Britain. From the Royal Academy’s opening in 1769 until 1802, when her eyesight prevented her from continuing painting, Moser exhibited thirty-six pieces at the Royal Academy. She received a vote for Academy president twice. In 1792, Queen Charlotte paid Mary Moser £900 to decorate the South Pavilion at Frogmore House. Many of her works survive today in the ‘Mary Moser Room’ and across eminent museum collections in Britain and America.
Bibliographic references
  • Andaleeb Badiee Banta and Alexa Greist with Theresa Kutasz Christensen, Making Her Mark: A History of Women Artists in Europe, 1400-1800, Toronto, Baltimore, and Fredericton: Art Gallery of Ontario, Baltimore Museum of Art, and Goose Lane Editions (2023), p. 178, cat. no. 38.
  • Paris A. Spies-Gans. A Revolution on Canvas: The Rise of Women Artists in Britain and France, 1760-1830. New Haven and London: Yale University Press and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 2022.
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
P.22-1987

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Record createdJuly 27, 2000
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O45592/flowers-in-a-basket-watercolour-moser-mary-ra/
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