Henrietta Johnston

Henrietta de Beaulieu Dering Johnston (c. 1674 – March 9, 1729) was a pastelist of uncertain origin active in the English colonies in North America from approximately 1708 until her death. She is both the earliest recorded female artist and the first known pastelist working in the English colonies, and is the first portraitist known to have worked in what would become the southern United States.

Life Both the date and place of Johnston's birth are unknown; it has been suggested, and is generally accepted, that she was born in northwestern France, near the town of Rennes. and Suzanna de Beaulieu, and the family immigrated to London in either 1685 In 1694 Henrietta married Robert She returned to Charleston at some time before her death in 1729. and his first wife Marianne Fleur Du Gue ) and duBoses (including Judith DuBose). Today, a number of her works are held by the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, other pieces may be seen in the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Greenville County Museum of Art. Williams protected them from the light in an upstairs dressing room where the shutters were kept closed.

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