| Number | AMHAM: OBJECT.1629 |
|---|---|
| Date | (1880 – 1910) |
| About this object | Lightly impressionist painting of a field and hayricks against a purple sunset sky by Mary Henrietta Dering Curtois. Mary Henrietta Dering Curtois (1854 – 1928) lived in Little Missenden and this oil painting was probably painted in the area. It is a lightly impressionist painting of a field and hayricks against a purple, pink and yellow sunset sky. As well as establishing a reputation as a painter, Mary Curtois was well known as a lecturer and an active member of several debating societies. She joined the campaign for women’s suffrage as a member of the Artists' Suffrage League. In Little Missenden she joined Catherine Courtauld’s Mid Bucks Suffrage Society and was a regular speaker at local meetings. In later years she loved painting local scenes and nature outdoors, “forgetful of her advancing years, as she worked in all weathers; this disregard of risk, unhappily contributed to her final illness”. Mary Curtois died from pneumonia at Chesham Cottage Hospital in October 1928, just after women achieved universal suffrage with the Equal Franchise Act. |
| Made By | Mary Henrietta Dering Curtois |
| Made In | Great Missenden/Amersham area |
| Physical Description | An oiI painting, lightly impressionist in style, of a field and hayricks against a purple, pink and yellow sunset sky. The picture is on canvas with a wooden stretcher. |
| Inscription | Signed Dering Curtois |