Anna Lea

Anna Lea Merritt (September 13, 1844 – April 7, 1930) was an American painter and printmaker, known for her poignant contributions to the art world. Born in Philadelphia to an affluent Quaker family, she was the eldest of six sisters. Merritt received a well-rounded education in subjects like classics, languages, and music, and later studied anatomy at the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania.

In 1865, her family moved to Europe, where Merritt refined her artistic skills under prominent tutors, including Stefano Ussi in Italy and Heinrich Hoffman in Germany. She eventually settled in London in 1870, where she met Henry Merritt, an art critic and picture conservator. They married in 1877, but tragedy struck when Henry died just three months later, an event that profoundly influenced her art.

Merritt’s work, often inspired by the Pre-Raphaelite movement, spans portraits, landscapes, and religious scenes. Her most famous painting, Love Locked Out (1890), depicts Cupid standing before a locked door, symbolizing her own grief and the loss of her husband. This painting was groundbreaking, becoming the first by a female artist to be acquired by the British national collection through the Chantrey Bequest.

In addition to painting, Merritt was also a writer, contributing to magazines such as The Century Magazine and Lippincott’s Magazine under the pseudonym “An Exile.” Merritt passed away in 1930 in Hampshire, England, leaving a legacy as a trailblazing woman in the arts, whose personal struggles only fueled her creative brilliance.