biography of Maria MARTIN (1796-1863)

Birth place: Charleston, SC

Death place: Charleston

Profession: Painter of birds, flowers, and insects

Comments: In 1831 Maria Martin met John James Audubon (see entry) through her (then) brother-in law, Rev. John Bachman. Between 1831 and 1838 Martin assisted Audubon, drawing plants and other background motifs for his Birds of America and Ornithological Biography. In 1849 she married Bachman (a lifelong friend of Audubon) who worked with the artist (as writer) on Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America (1845-48). Martin never took money for her work and her contribution stayed anonymous until research by Alice Ford in the 1950s (see Rubinstein) revealed that Martin was probably the most important woman naturalist-artist of the 19th-century.

Sources: G&W; Herrick, Audubon the Naturalist, 6-7; 281; C.L. Bachman, John Bachman, 375. More recently Rubinstein American Women Artists, 67.