Mary Anne Criddle, née Alabaster (1805–1880) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

painter. She was born at Chapel House, Holywell Mount in

Shoreditch Shoreditch is a district in the East End of London in England, and forms the southern part of the London Borough of Hackney. Neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets are also perceived as part of the area. In the 16th century, Shoreditch was an impor ...

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

.Mary Ann Criddle
in English Female Artists by Ellen Creathorne Clayton, 1876 She became an oil painter studying under

John Hayter John Hayter (21 October 1800 – 3 June 1895) was an English portrait painter who was Painter-in-Ordinary to Queen Victoria, whom he first painted when she was 12 years old. Biography He was the second son of the miniaturist Charles Hayter an ...

. She married Harry C. Criddle in 1836 and continued to work after her marriage, though after her brother died in 1840 she took on his three sons and in 1844 her own son Percy was born. She took up Watercolour painting in 1846 when her doctor told her oil painting was bad for her health. She became successful with these at shows at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

as well and in 1849 became a member of the

Society of Painters in Water Colours The Royal Watercolour Society is a British institution of painters working in watercolours. The Society is a centre of excellence for water-based media on paper, which allows for a diverse and interesting range of approaches to the medium of wat ...

. She is also known for sculpture.Mary Ann Criddle
in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

From 1852 to 1854 suffered partial blindness and stopped working, but was still working when her biography was written by Ellen Creathorne Clayton in 1876.

References

Mary Anne Criddle
with sketchbook in hand, 1864 photograph in the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

1805 births 1880 deaths Artists from London 19th-century English painters English women painters 19th-century British women artists 19th-century English women artists 19th-century women painters {{England-painter-stub