page_title: Abigail May Alcott Nieriker
section_title: Early life
hierarchical_section_title: Abigail May Alcott Nieriker / Early life
caption_attribution_description: English: May Alcott Nieriker, Floral Panel, oil on panel in Louisa's room in Orchard House, made by 1879
context_page_description: Abigail May Alcott Nieriker was an American artist and the youngest sister of Louisa May Alcott. She was the basis for the character Amy in her sister's semi-autobiographical novel Little Women. She was named after her mother, Abigail May, and first called Abba, then Abby, and finally May, which she asked to be called in November 1863 when in her twenties.
context_section_description: Abigail May Alcott was born July 26, 1840, in Concord, Massachusetts, the youngest of the four daughters born to Amos Bronson Alcott and Abigail Sewall Alcott.
  Her sister was the novelist Louisa May Alcott, who supported her studies in Europe and with whom she had a fond relationship, although Louisa May was at times jealous of her family life as well as her ability to get what she wanted and needed.
  Artistic from an early age, she was the inspiration for Amy, one of the sisters in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, who was described as follows: "She was never so happy as when copying flowers, designing fairies, or illustrating stories with queer specimens of art."
caption: May Alcott Nieriker, Floral Panel, oil on panel in Louisa's room in Orchard House, made by 1879
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