Mary Roberts

Henrietta Middleton, c. 1752-58, watercolor on ivory, in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Mary Roberts (died 1761) was an American miniaturist active in Charleston, South Carolina in the 1740s and 1750s. One of the earliest American miniaturists, and the first woman recorded as working in the medium in the American colonies, she is also believed to have painted the first watercolor-on-ivory miniature in the colonies.

Life Almost nothing is known about Roberts' life; what little may be gleaned about her comes from advertisements run in the South Carolina Gazette and from the wills of her contemporaries. She was the wife of painter Bishop Roberts, who first advertised his services in the Gazette in 1735, and again two years later. He claimed to be able to paint portraits, landscapes, and heraldry; to offer drawings for sale; to paint houses; and to print engravings as well. He is best remembered for a view of Charleston which was engraved by W. H. Toms in 1739. The portrait of Henrietta Middleton is on display at the museum.