Mary Ellen Marsden b. 1806

Also known as née Marsden Mary Betts
  • Artist (Painter),
  • Artist (Draughtsman)
Female colonial poet, watercolourist and sketcher who posed for another painter in the act of painting flowers, although no floral still-lifes by her have been found.
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sketcher and poet, was the third daughter and sixth child of Rev. Samuel Marsden and Elizabeth, née Fristan, of Parramatta, New South Wales. She accompanied her father to New Zealand in 1830. Later that year she married John Betts in Sydney. An unsigned and undated portrait (Mitchell Library), presumed to have been painted about this time and attributed to Richard Read junior , shows Mary in the act of painting a flower in her sketchbook. The specimen she is copying stands in a vase on the table in front of her and her box of watercolours is at her side, but none of the flower paintings she presumably produced have been identified. There are, however, surviving sketches attributed to the Marsden daughters with family papers in England. As Mary Betts, she published a tribute to her father, Lines Written on the 100th Anniversary of the Birthday of the Rev. Samuel Marsden (Sydney 1871).

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Writers:
Staff Writer
Date written:
1992
Last updated:
2011

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References [<ExternalResource: 'NSW Death Records : 8597/1885'.>, <ExternalResource: 'NSW Marriage Records : V183045 14/1830; V18305009 3B/1830'.>, <ExternalResource: 'NNSW Birth Records : V18061647 1A/1806'.>, <ExternalResource: Reeve, G.G. (1928), 'Chaplain Samuel Marsden and his five famous daughters', Windsor and Richmond Gazette, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW (newspaper cuttings), Newspaper cuttings from the 13th of July to the 10th of August.>, <ExternalResource: Kerr, J. (1980), 'Colonial ladies' sketchbooks', Art and Australia, (Volume 17, Number 4).>, <ExternalResource: McDonald, P. R. & Pearce, B. (1988), 'The Artist and the Patron', Art Gallery of NSW catalogue, Sydney, NSW.>, <ExternalResource: Betts, Mary (1871), 'Lines Written on the 100th Anniversary of the Birthday of the Rev. Samuel Marsden', Sydney, NSW.>] [<ExternalResource: 'NSW Death Records : 8597/1885'.>, <ExternalResource: 'NSW Marriage Records : V183045 14/1830; V18305009 3B/1830'.>, <ExternalResource: 'NNSW Birth Records : V18061647 1A/1806'.>, <ExternalResource: Reeve, G.G. (1928), 'Chaplain Samuel Marsden and his five famous daughters', Windsor and Richmond Gazette, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW (newspaper cuttings), Newspaper cuttings from the 13th of July to the 10th of August.>]