Mary’s fame as an artist grew quickly once she started sharing her work. Her family friendship with the successful manufacturer Matthew Boulton and his royal connections helped expose her work to new audiences. With their support she produced popular short exhibitions of her artwork before creating her own permanent gallery with over 60 pieces. She also put on smaller exhibitions in Leicester as charity fundraisers.

Miss Linwood’s Gallery of Pictures was the first art gallery owned and operated by a woman in London. The exhibitions and gallery were hugely popular in the early 19th century and visited by thousands, across social classes.

“The principal room, a fine gallery, was hung with scarlet cloth, trimmed with gold; and at the end was a throne and canopy of satin and silver. A long dark passage led to a prison cell, in which was Northcote’s Lady Jane Grey visited by the Abbot and Keeper of the Tower at night; the scenic illusion being complete.”

Raithby & Lawrence’s Illustrated Almanac, 1886

Fame and Fortune Gallery

Linwood Page 04 03
David With His Sling, Mary Linwood, before 1798
The original painting that Linwood used to create this piece is not known
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Rembrandt's Mother, Attributed to Mary Linwood, date unknown
Possibly based on a painting by Rembrandt Leicester Museums & Galleries, gift of Mrs Dawson, 1952
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Woodman in a Storm, Mary Linwood, before 1800
This embroidery has been faded by sunlight. This piece was based on a painting by Thomas Gainsborough that was destroyed by a fire in 1810
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The Nativity or The Holy Family, Mary Linwood, before 1810
This is the first Linwood acquired by Leicester Museums & Galleries. It was donated by a group of mainly local women
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Deposition or Dead Christ, Mary Linwood, before 1809
Based on a painting by Ludovico Carracci Leicester Museums & Galleries, bequest of Miss Drury, 1928
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Girl Weeping over a Starved Goldfinch, Mary Linwood, before 1789
Based on a pastel by John Russell Leicester Museums & Galleries, bequest of Miss I. M. Macaulay, 1937
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Matronage, Ruth Singer, antique textiles, 2024
Matronage is the word for the female form of patronage — the support or encouragement of artists. The championing of women artists by other women has always existed, but matronage may not always be visible in the historical record
Linwood Page 04 02
Berlin Wool Work, Mary Ann Marsland, 1847
Berlin wool work became a fashionable hobby in the 1830s. It came about through industrial copying techniques, enabling women with limited skills to stitch pictorial embroideries

 

Mary Linwood Timeline

1786

  • The Head of King Lear embroidery awarded a medal by the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.

1787

  • Audience with Queen Charlotte
  • First solo exhibition at The Pantheon, London

1798-1801

  • Works displayed at Hanover Square Concert Rooms, London

1804-1807

  • Touring display travels to Edinburgh, Dublin and Cork

1809-1845

  • Miss Linwood’s Gallery, Leicester Square is open