Martha Mercer, née Dana (1872–1960) was a US art collector and philanthropist. She was the daughter of Charles Stratton Dana of the

Dana family The Dana family is a Boston Brahmin family that arrived in Cambridge, Massachusetts from England during the later end of the Puritan migration to New England (1620–1640). Richard Dana, immigrant The patriarch, Richard Dana (16201690) was said t ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. She became friends with

Isabella Stewart Gardner Isabella Stewart Gardner (April 14, 1840 – July 17, 1924) was a leading American art collector, philanthropist, and patron of the arts. She founded the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Gardner possessed an energetic intellectual cur ...

who arranged for her to have her portrait painted by Anders Zorn in 1899. She married the artist William Robert Mercer of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, who was the brother of

Henry Chapman Mercer Henry Chapman Mercer (June 24, 1856 – March 9, 1930) was an American archeologist, artifact collector, tile-maker, and designer of three distinctive poured concrete structures: Fonthill, his home; the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works; and th ...

. Together they designed and built Aldie Mansion in the Tudor revival style, today owned by the Heritage Conservancy of Bucks County. The couple had twins in 1910 who died within a year. Her husband died in 1939 and Martha split her legacy into three equal parts, forming the Martha Dana Mercer Trust. She gave to the

Boston Symphony Orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the " Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 1881, ...

, the

Arnold Arboretum The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University is a botanical research institution and free public park, located in the Jamaica Plain and Roslindale neighborhoods of Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1872, it is the oldest public arboretum in N ...

(in the name of her father), and the Museum of Fine Arts of Boston. Dana Mercer gave her portrait by Zorn to the museum in 1928. The museum also has another painting formerly in her collection, ''Man on Horseback'' by

Gerard ter Borch Gerard ter Borch (; December 1617 – 8 December 1681), also known as Gerard Terburg (), was a Dutch genre painter who lived in the Dutch Golden Age. He influenced fellow Dutch painters Gabriel Metsu, Gerrit Dou, Eglon van der Neer and Johanne ...

.Man on Horseback
on museum website File:Gerard ter Borch - Man on Horseback.jpg, ''

Man on Horseback ''Man on Horseback'' (german: Michael Kohlhaas – der Rebell, link=no) is a 1969 West German drama film directed by Volker Schlöndorff based on the novel ''Michael Kohlhaas'' by Heinrich von Kleist. It was entered into the 1969 Cannes Film ...

'', by

Mercer is buried near her parents in

Mount Auburn Cemetery Mount Auburn Cemetery is the first rural cemetery, rural, or garden, cemetery in the United States, located on the line between Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, Watertown in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middl ...

References

American women philanthropists 19th-century American women 20th-century American women American socialites People from Boston 1872 births 1960 deaths {{philanthropist-stub