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For a few years at the turn of the nineteenth century, the sculptor and society hostess, Anne Seymour Damer, staged private theatricals at Strawberry Hill House, Twickenham. '''Strawberry Hill House'''—often called simply '''Strawberry Hill'''—is a Gothic Revival villa that was built in Twickenham, London, by Horace Walpole (1717–1797) from 1749 onward. It is a typical example of the "Strawberry Hill Gothic" style of architecture,and it prefigured the nineteenth-century Gothic Revival.  Anne Damer inherited Strawberry Hill House from her godfather and relative, Horace Walpole.

'''Anne Seymour Damer''' (née Conway; 26 October 1748 – 28 May 1828)<ref>''The Register of Births & Baptisms in the Parish of St James within the Liberty of Westminster Vol. IV. 1741-1760''. 30 November 1748.</ref> was an English sculptor.<ref>{{cite DNB|author=Stephen, Leslie|wstitle=Damer, Anne Seymour|volume=13|pages=450–451}}</ref> Described as a 'female genius' by [[Horace Walpole]], she was trained in sculpture by [[Giuseppe Ceracchi]] and [[John Bacon (sculptor, born 1740)|John Bacon]]. Influenced by the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], Damer was an author, traveller, theatrical producer and actress, as well as an acclaimed sculptor.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Webb|first=Richard|date=2014|title=Anne Seymour Damer – Sculpture & Society|journal=The Strawberry Hill}}</ref>  

During the period 1784–1818, Damer exhibited 32 works as an honorary exhibitor at the [[Royal Academy]]. Her work, primarily [[Bust (sculpture)|busts]] in [[Sculpture#Neo-Classical|Neoclassical]] style, developed from early wax sculptures to technically complex ones in works in [[terracotta]], bronze and marble. Her subjects, largely drawn from friends and colleagues in Whig circles, included [[Lady Melbourne]], [[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson|Nelson]], [[Joseph Banks]], [[George III]], [[Mary Berry (writer, born 1763)|Mary Berry]], [[Charles James Fox]] and herself. She executed several actors' portraits, such as the busts of her friends [[Sarah Siddons]] and [[Elizabeth Farren]] (as the [[Muses]] ''[[Melpomene]]'' and ''[[Thalia (Muse)|Thalia]]'').

She produced keystone sculptures of [[Isis]] and [[Tamesis]] for each side of the central arch on the [[Henley Bridge|bridge]] at [[Henley-on-Thames]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Walpole|first=Horace|title=The letters of Horace Walpole, fourth earl of Orford, Volume 8|editor=Peter Cunningham|url=https://archive.org/details/lettershoracewa24walpgoog|year=1891|pages=[https://archive.org/details/lettershoracewa24walpgoog/page/n595 550]–551|publisher=R. Bentley|place=London}}</ref> The original models are in the Henley Gallery of the [[River and Rowing Museum]] nearby. Another major architectural work was her 10-foot statue of [[Apollo]], now destroyed, for the frontage of [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane|Drury Lane]] theatre. She also created two [[Bas-relief|bas-reliefs]] for the [[Boydell Shakespeare Gallery]] of scenes from ''[[Coriolanus]]'' and ''[[Antony and Cleopatra]]''.

Damer frequently appeared in Private Theatricals, including the plays performed at Richmond House organised by the Duke of Richmond from 1787. She also took an active role in the [[Pic Nic Society.]] 

In 1800, she staged Arthur Murphy's comedy, ''The Old Maid'' (1761) and Henry Fielding’s ''The Intriguing Chambermaid'' (1733). In, she staged 1801 ''Fashionable Friends'', a satirical comedy written by Mary Berry. The farce was ''Lovers’ Quarrels'', based on Vanbrugh’s ''The Mistake'' (1705). Having enjoyed this event, the company immediately staged ''The Devil to Pay; or, the Wives Metamorphosed'' (1731). A three-act ballad opera by Charles Coffey (d. 1745) and John Mottley (1692-1750), adapted from Thomas Jevon's ''Devil of a Wife'' (1686).

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Sir_Joseph_Banks_by_Anne_Seymour_Damer.jpg|Sir Joseph Banks by Anne Seymour Damer
File:Anne_seymour_damer_coriolanus.JPG|[[Engraving]] of ''Coriolanus'' (c. 1789), one of two bas-reliefs created by Damer for the [[Boydell Shakespeare Gallery]]
File:Thames_by_Anne_Seymour_Damer.JPG|Sculpture of [[Tamesis]]. Downstream [[Keystone (architecture)|keystone]] of the central arch of [[Henley Bridge]]
File:Anne_Seymour_Damer_(The_Damerian_Apollo)_1798.jpg|"The Damerian Apollo". 1798 caricature of Anne Seymour Damer chiselling the posterior of a large Apollo
File:Anne_Seymour_Damer,_by_Joshua_Reynolds_(1723-1792).jpg|Anne Seymour Damer, by [[Joshua Reynolds]] (1723–1792)
File:Anne_Seymour_Damer.jpg|Statue of Anne Seymour Damer, by [[Giuseppe Ceracchi]]
</gallery>

== Personal life ==
Damer's friends included a number of influential Whigs and aristocrats. Her guardian and friend Horace Walpole was a significant figure, who helped foster her career and on his death left her his London villa, [[Strawberry Hill House|Strawberry Hill]]. She also moved in literary and theatrical circles, where her friends included the poet and dramatist [[Joanna Baillie]], the author [[Mary Berry (writer, born 1763)|Mary Berry]], and the actors [[Sarah Siddons]] and [[Elizabeth Farren]]. She frequently took part in [[Masque|masques]] at the [[Pantheon, London|Pantheon]] and amateur theatricals at the London residence of the [[Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond|Duke of Richmond]], who was married to her half-sister, [[Lady Mary Bruce]]<ref>''The Letters of Horace Walpole: Earl of Orford'', Horace Walpole, H.G. Bohn, 1861. [https://archive.org/details/lettershoracewa24walpgoog Internet Archive]</ref>

A number of sources have named Damer as being involved in [[lesbian]] relationships, particularly relating to her close friendship with Mary Berry, to whom she had been introduced by Walpole in 1789, and with whom she lived together in her later years. Even during her marriage, her likings for male clothing and demonstrative friendships with other women were publicly noted and satirised by hostile commentators such as [[Hester Thrale]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Oram|first1=Alison|last2=Turnbull|first2=Annmarie|title=The Lesbian History Sourcebook: Love and Sex Between Women in Britain from 1780 to 1970|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KeWpYgdFWvgC&pg=PA58|year=2001|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-11484-4|page=58}}</ref> and in the anonymous pamphlet ''A Sapphick Epistle from Jack Cavendish to the Honourable and most Beautiful, Mrs D—'' (c. 1770).<ref name="odnb">{{cite ODNB|first=Alison|last=Yarrington|title=Damer, Anne Seymour (1748–1828)|year=2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/7084|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7084|accessdate=16 August 2007}}</ref><ref name="sapphick">Rictor Norton (Ed.), "A Sapphick Epistle, 1778", Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook. 1 December 1999, updated 23 February 2003 <{{cite web|url=http://www.infopt.demon.co.uk/sapphick.htm|title=Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England|accessdate=16 August 2007|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613220104/http://www.infopt.demon.co.uk/sapphick.htm|archivedate=13 June 2007}}> Retrieved on 16 August 2007</ref>

A romance between Damer and [[Elizabeth Farren]], who was mentioned by Thrale, is the central storyline in the 2004 novel ''Life Mask'' by [[Emma Donoghue]].<ref name="interview">{{cite web|title=Interview with Emma Donoghue, Life Mask|url=http://www.harcourtbooks.com/AuthorInterviews/bookinterview_Donoghue.asp|work=Harcourt Trade Publishers|accessdate=16 August 2007|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927203058/http://www.harcourtbooks.com/AuthorInterviews/bookinterview_Donoghue.asp|archivedate=27 September 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== References ==
* Seewald, Jan. ''Theatrical Sculpture. Skulptierte Bildnisse berühmter englischer Schauspieler (1750–1850), insbesondere David Garrick und Sarah Siddons''. Herbert Utz Verlag, München 2007.

{{refend}}{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{commons category|Anne Seymour Damer}}

* [http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/damer_anne_seymour.html Artcyclopedia information] including links to artworks
* {{NPG name|id=01175}}
* [https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp01175/anne-seymour-damer-nee-conway?role=art Portraits by Anne Seymour Damer] at the [[National Portrait Gallery, London]]
* [http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ArtistWorks?cgroupid=999999961&artistid=2553&page=1 Artwork] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205021836/http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ArtistWorks?cgroupid=999999961&artistid=2553&page=1|date=5 February 2012}} in [[Tate]], [[London]]
* [https://archive.today/20130209162958/http://wwar.com/masters/d/damer-anne_seymour.html WWAR information]
* [http://www.artandarchitecture.org.uk/search/results.html?_creators=ULANWITT%2F9337&display=Damer%2C+Anne+Seymour A&A art and architecture images] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204060259/http://www.artandarchitecture.org.uk/search/results.html?_creators=ULANWITT%2F9337&display=Damer,+Anne+Seymour|date=4 February 2012}} including a [http://www.artandarchitecture.org.uk/images/conway/627a270d.html marble sculpture self portrait] from the [[Courtauld Institute of Art]]
* [http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/detail.asp?ContentID=372 The Twickenham Museum] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120515232835/http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/detail.asp?ContentID=372|date=15 May 2012}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130516153805/http://mrsdamer.com/ Finding facts about Anne Damer 1748-1828] on MrsDamer.com

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