Mary Way

Portrait miniatures were popular in the colonial period and early Republic for about a century, from 1750 to 1850. John Singleton Copley was one of the more prominent American painters to produce miniatures. The genre's historical roots extend back to medieval illuminated manuscripts, in which small-scale, detailed artistry was of paramount importance; and the portrait medal, popular in ancient times and the Renaissance, which Johnson describes as the "first small portable likeness[]". The medium in which Way primarily worked—watercolor on ivory—was first developed by Rosalba Carriera, a 17th-century Italian miniaturist. As might be expected, miniature painting in this technique was immensely difficult. The small size alone presented formidable challenges. Moreover, ivory does not retain paint well, which meant that "the tiniest error was usually irreversible". == Life ==

Way began her artistic career in New London, Connecticut, where she was born. Her father Ebenezer was a merchant; her mother Mary (née Tabor) died relatively early in Way's life. Her cousin Charles Holt ran a local newspaper in which he advertised Way's work. Her sister Elizabeth ("Betsey") Champlain (1771–1825) and niece Eliza Champlain (1797–1825) also worked in miniatures. Although this has not been documented, many scholars note that it is likely Way learned painting at a "female academy" in Connecticut. (An 1833 obituary claims, however, that Way was "self-taught". Female academies in early America taught literacy and numeracy, but as their students "were being schooled to be homemakers and matrons in a polite society", academies focused on the arts to the exclusion of more advanced academic subjects. In 1809, Way herself had established a school for women in New London, in which she taught painting and other subjects. She had advertised as a teacher as early as 1796. In 1811, she moved to New York City after her work had begun to attract notice. Despite gaining some recognition, she was poor for much of her life. Way was forced to abandon her painting career in 1818 when she became blind from glaucoma. Around that time, she left New York for New London to be with her family. == Art ==

. Way was an artistic pioneer in early America. Jaffee calls her "very likely the first professional woman artist in the post-Revolutionary United States"; Baratt and Zabar, "one of the first professional women painters in America". Kelly observes that Way's miniatures did not tend to follow technical developments in the genre, which included a shift to larger formats and brighter colors. Rather, she continued to use a more muted palette throughout her career. She was acquainted with John Wesley Jarvis, Anson Dickinson, and Samuel Lovett Waldo, among others, who advised her and suggested improvements to her work. A previously unknown pattern of rare Ipswich lace adorns a figure of Sarah Hamlin Sage. Way's works are held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London; and the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, Connecticut, among other institutions and in the hands of private collectors. An exhibition of the Way sisters' works, with an accompanying catalog, debuted in late 2021. == Notes ==