Mary Ann Giddy Paintings

Mary Ann Giddy, also known as Mary Anne Purnell after her marriage, was a British artist born on February 27, 1777, in Cornwall, England. She was the daughter of John Giddy, a well-respected landowner and member of the British Parliament, and Catherine Giddy. Despite the gender constraints of her time, Mary Ann Giddy pursued her interests in the arts and became an accomplished artist, although she is not as widely recognized as some of her male contemporaries.

Giddy's education was comprehensive, and she received training in various artistic disciplines. However, the specifics of her artistic education, such as her teachers or the exact nature of her studies, are not well-documented. What is known is that she was part of a progressive family; her brother, Davies Giddy, later known as Davies Gilbert after he adopted his wife's surname, was a notable engineer, author, and politician.

She married Thomas Purnell in 1804, and after her marriage, she was known as Mary Anne Purnell. The couple had several children. Despite the demands of family life, which often limited women's opportunities to pursue professional careers, particularly in the arts, she continued to practice her craft.

Mary Ann Giddy's artistic output and contributions to the arts during her lifetime are not extensively recorded, and as a result, she remains a relatively obscure figure in art history. Nevertheless, she is a representative of the many women artists of the 18th and 19th centuries who practiced their art in the face of societal restrictions and whose works and lives are only now being recovered by art historians.

She outlived her husband by many years and continued to be involved in her family's intellectual and cultural pursuits. Mary Ann Giddy Purnell died on October 6, 1852. While she may not have achieved fame during her lifetime, her story reflects the broader narrative of women in the arts during this period, whose contributions are increasingly acknowledged and celebrated in the contemporary era.