page_title: Lilly Martin Spencer
section_title: Married life
hierarchical_section_title: Lilly Martin Spencer / Biography / Married life
caption_attribution_description: English: The Artist and Her Family on a Fourth of July Picnic
context_page_description: Lilly Martin Spencer was one of the most popular and widely reproduced American female genre painters in the mid-nineteenth century. She primarily painted domestic scenes, paintings of women and children in a warm happy atmosphere, although over the course of her career she would also come to paint works of varying style and subject matter, including the portraits of famous individuals such as suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Although she did have an audience for her work, Spencer had difficulties earning a living as a professional painter and faced financial trouble for much of her adult life.
context_section_description: During her third year in Cincinnati she married Benjamin Rush Spencer on August 24, 1844. Benjamin Spencer was an Englishman who worked in the tailoring business; however once they were married he no longer pursued an independent career, instead dedicating himself to helping his wife both in household chores as well as with her artistic work. This made Mrs. Spencer the main breadwinner for the family. Although the Spencers did not run a traditional home, from all accounts they had a "singularly happy one". The Spencers had thirteen children, seven of whom grew to maturity. Although many feared that matrimony would end her career as an artist, it did not; she would become the most popular and widely reproduced female genre painter of the mid-19th century.
  The Spencers experienced chronic financial difficulties. In pursuit of greater opportunity they moved to New York City in 1848. There she was already known through exhibitions at the National Academy of Design and the American Art-Union. By the time the Spencers arrived in New York "art patronage was firmly in the hands of the middle class which was eager to ‘purchase’ culture, and quick to assert their preference for scenes which they could identify." Lilly Martin Spencer easily filled this gap with domestic scenes, often using her own family and pets as models. In 1849 she produced her first major successful painting, Life's Happy Hour. Scholars have noted that due to the demand of the time Spencer was "able to combine her two roles, as artist and mother with a certain degree of success." Her works were all positive and devoid of tragedy, depicting endearing scenes of domesticity; academics have commented that in this period "her paintings exude an enthusiasm and happiness reminiscent of seventeenth-century Dutch art…(and are) enhanced by a disarming gaze directly toward the viewer or his inclusion in a coy flirtation, tease, or practical joke."
  Despite her positive reputation there was a disparity between Spencer’s apparent popularity and her financial success. Most of her sales were a result of art unions, and their downfall, as a result of low membership subscriptions, was a blow to her sales. She also sold possibly a million lithographs of her paintings, but of these she only received profit from the sales of the rights to the painting. She also illustrated books and magazines, such as Godey's Lady's Book and Women of the American Revolution. Again, due to the difficulty in making ends meet the Spencers moved to Newark, New Jersey in 1858.  There they raised chickens and planted vegetables in order to stave off actual starvation. Spencer continued to make portraits and commissions whenever possible, and still supported her family through her art, but money remained a problem. During the late 1850s, in an attempt to expand the range of her options in domestic scenes she added sexuality to the women in her domestic spaces. This new sexuality could be due to an influx of European images, which showed women as sexual beings. This was demonstrated in more suggestive figures and elaborate hairstyles and dress.
  Throughout the 1860s the Civil War changed the outlook of many artists, including Spencer. Her paintings become more thoughtful and included more patriotic themes and titles. She produced famous and  perceptive works of art such as War Spirit at Home in 1866 and We Both Must Fade in 1869, which depicts a young female looking in a mirror. The title offers a view of woman in society, which applied at least during the mid-19th century, commenting on concepts of the importance of beauty of women and their role in society. It was during this time that she painted what she considered her masterpiece, Truth Unveiling Falsehood. The piece is divided in half; on one side a monstrous woman with a sheep's head is about to devour a helpless babe in its grasp, and at its feet a figure with a grossly deformed hand pays homage. On the other side a beautiful woman nurses a child. The image is divided by Truth, an angelic blond figure who lifts a cloak (Falsehood) off the monster e
caption: The Artist and Her Family on a Fourth of July Picnic (c.1864)
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