Damer, Anne (Seymour Conway)
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- Damer, Anne (Seymour Conway)
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(1748 - 1828), sculptor, dau. and h. of Gen. Hon. Henry Seymour Conway and Ldy. Caroline Campbell (dau. of 4th D. of Argyll [S]); m. 1767 Hon. John Damer; exh. RA 1784 - 5, 1787 - 90, and between 1795 and 1818; inherited 1797 Strawberry Hill which she released in 1811 to Ld. Waldegrave.
1778 - 9 Florence
1781 - 2 Florence ( - 21 Nov. 1781), Rome (Nov. 1781 - Apr. 1782) with visit to Naples; Venice (5 May) [England 13 Jun.]
1786 [dep. England 30 Oct. 1785] Florence (early 1786), Rome (by 24 Jan.), Naples (Mar. - late Apr.), Rome (May), Florence ( - 1 Jun.) [England Jul. 1786]
Little is known of Anne Damer's first visit to Italy in 1778 - 9, two years after her husband's suicide. On 13 September 1779 Horace Walpole told Henry Seymour Conway 'You may imagine how happy I am at Mrs D.'s return, and at her not being at Naples, as she was likely to have been, at the dreadful explosion of Vesuvius'.1 She presented a self-portrait bust in marble of 1778 to the Uffizi which may have been executed in Florence.2
Her second visit in 1781 - 2 was grandly anticipated by Walpole to Horace Mann: 'In Italy she will be a prodigy; she models like Bernini'; she was going to travel 'to confirm a very delicate constitution' accompanied by Lady William Campbell, Lord William Campbell's widow, and intended to go to Naples.3 They arrived in Florence early in November 1781 and Mann noticed that she was frequenting the Gallery 'very assiduously'.4 On 21 November she left for Rome, Mann telling Walpole that he 'totally [gave] up the hopes of ever seeing her equal';5 he presented her with an antique foot, 'the perfection of sculpture'.6 In Rome by March 1782 Lady William was 'much out of order'and Mann immediately invited them both back to Florence.7 Lady Knight had seen them both in Rome in April and wrote that Lady William's 'great affliction and distresses have made her melancholy mad. She has passed some sad months here, but as she has now got pretty well she anxiously wished to get back'.8 On 30 April Lady William passed through Florence without stopping.9 Mrs Damer had meanwhile visited Naples, Sir William Hamilton telling Walpole of the sculptures she had done there, which included a bust of Ceres from a Sicilian medal which evinced 'true simplicity and dignity'.(10) On 5 May 1782 Mrs Damer alone arrived in Venice.(11) She was back in England on 13 June looking, thought Walpole, 'in better health than when she went, but I cannot say at all plumper'.(12)
Walpole remained concerned for her health and in May 1785 wrote Mann that he wished Mrs Damer 'would make you another visit. She is very delicate, and often out of order, and certainly was better for her Italian journey'.(13) On 30 October 1785 Mrs Damer duly set out again for Italy, this time accompanied by her cousin Caroline Campbell, 'a very amiable sensible young woman', daughter of Lady William (who had died the previous year). Mrs Damer was in Florence early in 1786, when Mann had less than a year to live; his two nephews acted as her cavalieri serventi.14 She was in Rome on 24 January;15 she hurt her leg and 'was detained at Rome longer than she had proposed'.16 From Naples Hamilton wrote on 7 March 1786 that 'Mrs Damer will probably be here tomorrow or the next day, and is to lodge with me, her stay will not be more than ten days or a fortnight'.17 Sir William rather fell for her, and wrote that if Mrs Damer had agreed to stay in Naples he might have married her; as it was, Emma Hart arrived late in April, a few days before Mrs Damer's departure.18
In May she left Rome with Lady Elizabeth Foster, apparently intending for Venice,19 but Mrs Damer was in Florence for two days at the end of May, leaving on 1 June. She 'seemed to compassionate my coughing and extreme weakness; I never was so sensibly affected by any mark of tenderness!' wrote Mann, who gave her a cameo from the Stosch colection to give Walpole.20 Mrs Damer returned to England in July, a fact listed by Walpole within a list of her works, which included a 'profile wax of Lady Elizabeth Foster' made in Italy, and a 'Bust of Miss Campbell in terra-cotta. Large as life'.21
1. Wal.Corr., 39:339. 2. Firenze e l'Inghilterra, exh. cat., Florence [1971], no.53. 3. Wal.Corr., 25:183 - 4. 4. Ibid., 203. 5. Ibid., 206. 6. Ibid., 287. 7. Ibid., 270. 8. Knight Letters, 111. 9. Wal.Corr., 25:271 - 2. 10 Ibid., 35:432 - 2 (28 May 1782). 11. ASV IS 760. 12. Wal.Corr., 25:287. 13. Ibid., 576. 14. Ibid., 627. 15. Quin jnl.MSS. 16. Wal.Corr., 25:50. 17. Morrison, 1:12 (no.146). 18. F. Fraser, Beloved Emma, 76 - 7. 19. D.M. Stuart, Dearest Bess, 37. 20. Wal. Corr., 25:650. 21. Ibid., 12:272.