Letitia Marion Hamilton

Letitia Marion Hamilton (30 July 1878 – 11 August 1964) was an Irish landscape artist. She was awarded a bronze medal in the Art competitions at the 1948 Summer Olympics.

Life Letitia Marion Hamilton was born in Hamwood House, County Meath on 30 July 1878. She was the daughter of Charles Robert Hamilton and Louisa Caroline Elizabeth Brooke. She attended Alexandra College. Letitia and her sister Eva were great-granddaughters of the artist Marianne-Caroline Hamilton, and cousins of watercolourist Rose Maynard Barton. The sisters' father could only afford one dowry, so Letitia and Eva remained unmarried, with their artistic careers helping to support the household. Both Hamilton and her sister studied at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art under William Orpen.

Artistic career

Hamilton first exhibited in 1902, It was around this time that she changed her signature from MH (May Hamilton) to LMH, reflecting her full name. Hamilton worked on small oil sketches, which would later develop into finished works. Her style was rapid, with loose, fluid brush strokes. In the early 1920s, Hamilton travelled to Venice, painting on a gondola studio lent to her by artist and friend Ada Longfield. The works from this trip are considered amongst her best, with her exploring light effects, pastel shades, and strong outlines. Hamilton later employed these elements into her works on Irish landscapes. Hamilton served as president of the Society of Dublin Painters in the late 1950s. Despite her failing eyesight later in life, Hamilton continued to paint, mounting her final exhibition in 1963, a year before her death.

Examples of Hamilton's work are held in a number of collections, including Hugh Lane Gallery, Limerick City Gallery of Art, Crawford Art Gallery, Ulster Museum, National Gallery of Ireland, and Waterford Art Gallery. Her painting Canal Scene In Venice attained the highest price for a Hamilton work in 2004, which sold at Sotheby's, in London, for £33,600.