Women in the 19C United States of America: Louisiana paintings by Italian-born Anthony Meucci (flourished in America, 1818-1827)

Friday, May 1, 2020

Louisiana paintings by Italian-born Anthony Meucci (flourished in America, 1818-1827)

Anthony Meucci (fl in America, 1818-1827) Juliet Noel (Mrs Pierre Toussaint)

A painter known for portrait miniatures, teaching drawing, painting opera scenery, & restoring art, Anthony Meucci was active in New Orleans from 1818 to 1827, with visits to Charleston, South Carolina in 1822; New York City 1823; & Salem, Massachusetts in 1825. In 1818, he established a studio on St. Ann Street in New Orleans between Dauphine & Bourbon, & by 1826 was working out of a studio at the corner of St. Peter & Royal Streets.

Anthony Meucci (fl in America, 1818-1827) George Washington

He sailed to the United States from Rome. Among his commissions for scenery painting was the New Orleans Theatre. He was married to artist Nina Meucci, & the couple moved to Havana, Cuba in 1827, & then to the northern coast of South America. Among his portrait subjects from the period was Simon Bolivar, whom he met in Cartegena, Columbia. He also did portraits of the Marquis de Lafayette & George Washington.

Anthony Meucci (fl in America, 1818-1827) Euphemia Toussaint

Anthony Meucci (fl in America, 1818-1827) Marquis de Lafayette

Anthony or Nina Meucci (Spanish-American, fl in America 1818-1827) Portrait Miniature of a Gentleman in His Library

About this blog

In colonial America, men were considered superior to woman in all ways. In a strict patriarchal hierarchy, men controlled not only wealth & political power but also how their children were raised, religious questions, & all matters of right & wrong.

In the early part of the 19Cy, however, many Americans experienced a revolution in gender. The doctrine of “separate spheres” maintained that woman’s sphere was the world of privacy, family, & morality while man’s sphere was the public world -– economic striving, political maneuvering, & social competition. But women were interested in equality.

In 1848, New York passed the Married Woman’s Property Act. Now a woman wasn’t automatically liable for her husband’s debts; she could enter contracts on her own; she could collect rents or receive an inheritance in her own right; she could file a lawsuit on her own behalf. She became for economic purposes, an individual. By 1900, every state has passed legislation modeled after this, granting married women some control over their property and earnings.

In 1870 after the Civi War, the 15th Amendment was ratified, saying, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” African-Americans could vote, but women could not.

But it was not until 1920, that the 19th Amendment was ratified granting women the right to vote. “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”