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Mr. Grey No biographical details are known about the artist of this painting, which has been attributed to a 'Mr. Grey' in Crispin Tickell's book 'Mary Anning of Lyme Regis' (1996). The painting, believed to have been completed prior to 1842 and according to Tickell (1996), was submitted without success to the Royal Academy for exhibition. The painting shows Mary Anning with her faithful dog 'Tray' standing on the foreshore of her home town Lyme Regis, Dorset, with the famous outcrop 'Golden Cap' in the background. It is believed that the painting was probably the basis of the posthumous pastel by B. J. M. Donne (1831-c.1925) in the collections at the Geological Society of London. Interestingly, the pastel held at the Geological Society
has the addition of an ammonite on the foreshore between Mary
Anning and her dog, as well as her geological hammer being
slightly shorter in length!
Mary Anning was born on 21 May 1799 in the coastal town of Lyme Regis where she was to live all of her life. Her father, Richard Anning was a carpenter who supplemented his income by selling fossils collected from the cliffs around the town. She and her elder brother Joseph (1796-1842) would accompany their father on his expeditions to find fossils to sell in their shop. After her father’s death from consumption she managed the fossil business to provide income for her family. Working initially with her mother and brother, fossil hunting soon became a full time job for Mary and with it the recognition of the scientific importance of her finds. Although Mary lacked formal scientific training, she soon developed not only a great skill for fossil hunting but also great judgement and skill in the extraction of fossils and their subsequent preparation for sale. Over the years, Mary Anning secured many fine specimens of ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, fossil fish and molluscs from the early Jurassic cliffs in Lyme Regis, selling them to wealthy collectors, universities and public museums throughout Britain and abroad. Many of the fossils were new to science and of great significance in the development of palaeontology. Mary's understanding and interest in science quickly developed. She also attracted the attention of many of the eminent scientists and geologists of the day, including William Buckland, Adam Sedgwick, Henry De La Beche, Roderick Murchison and William Conybeare. Mary Anning died in 1847 and was buried in the churchyard
of the local parish church. The area around Lyme Regis is
rich in fossils and continue to be exposed today. More recently
a fossilized ichthysaur was extracted from the beach at Charmouth
and is now at the Natural
History Museum. Many of Mary Anning’s most important
specimens also survive in the Natural History Museum, some
of which are on public display in the Fossil Reptile Gallery.
The painting belonged to Mary's brother Joseph Anning, and was presented to the Natural History Museum by Miss Annette Anning in 1935.
Exhibition and publication details This oil painting of Mary Anning is on permanent display in the Earth Sciences Library at the Natural History Museum. A copy can also be found next to one of her specimens in the Fossil Reptile Gallery. Thackray, J. C. A. (1995) A catalogue of portraits, paintings and sculpture at the Natural History Museum London. Mansell: London. xii, 70pp.
References and further reading Goodhue, T. W. (2004) Fossil hunting: the life and times of Mary Anning (1799-1847). Bethesda: Academica Press. 202 pp. Lang (1960) Portraits of Mary Anning and other items. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 81 : pp. 89-91. Tickell, C. [1996] Mary Anning of Lyme Regis. Lyme Regis: Lyme Regis Philpot Museum. 31 pp. Torrens, H. S. (1995) Mary Anning (1799-1847) of Lyme : ‘the greatest fossilist the world ever knew’. British Journal for the History of Science, Vol. 28, pp.257-284. http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/template.cfm?name=BA200405 |
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