Anne Marguerite Hyde de Neuville

Anne Marguérite, Baroness Hyde de Neuville (born Henriette Anne Marguérite Joséphine Rouillé de Marigny, May 10, 1771 - September 14, 1849 ) was a French aristocrat and self-taught watercolorist and artist. She is best known for her drawings of people and landscapes she encountered in her travels in America during the first decades of the 19th century. She left behind a sizable body of work of over 200 watercolors and drawings.

Early life Anne Marguérite married Jean-Guillaume, baron Hyde de Neuville, on August 23, 1794, in Sancerre when she was twenty-three and Jean-Guiillaume was eighteen years old. Jean-Guillaume, a French Royalist was accused of participating in a plot to assassinate Napoleon Bonaparte in 1800. The couple's property was seized and they went into hiding for several years. In 1805, Anne-Maguérite traveled to Vienna to meet with Napoleon in an attempt to reclaim their estate. Napoleon finally agreed but only if they went into exile in the United States.

The couple arrived in the United States in 1807 and traveled throughout the Northeast. They spent their winters in New York City and established the École Économique, a school for French refugee children in 1808 and which was incorporated in 1810. For their loyalty to the monarchy, Jean-Guillaume was named French Ambassador to the United States in 1816. The couple lived in Washington, D.C.