Anne Langton
{{Short description|Canadian artist (1804–1893)}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = Anne Langton
| image = Anne Langton self portrait.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = self portrait, 1833
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1804|6|24|mf=y}}
| birth_place = Yorkshire Dales, United Kingdom
| death_date = {{death date and age|1893|5|10|1804|6|24|mf=y}}
| death_place = Toronto, Canada
| nationality = British-Canadian
| education =
| field = Painter
| training =
| movement =
| works =
| patrons =
| awards =
| spouse =
}}
Anne Langton (June 24, 1804 – May 10, 1893) was an English artist who specialized in landscapes and miniature portraiture.{{Cite web |title=Archives of Ontario - Anne Langton: The Early Years |url=http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/explore/online/langton/early_years.aspx |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=www.archives.gov.on.ca |language=en}} In 1837, she settled on the frontier in Upper Canada, where she continued her artwork and also became known for her writing.{{Cite web |title=Archives of Ontario - Anne Langton: The Early Years |url=http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/explore/online/langton/early_years.aspx |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=www.archives.gov.on.ca |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Archives of Ontario - Anne Langton: The Grand Tour - Part One |url=http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/explore/online/langton/grand_tour.aspx |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=www.archives.gov.on.ca |language=en}}
Life and career
She was born to Thomas and Ellen Langton in the Yorkshire Dales, but within a few months, they moved to Lancashire, where she was raised in a mansion named Blythe Hall, near Ormskirk. She and her brothers William and John were educated at home by their parents and private tutors. Her family travelled extensively through Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, and Switzerland, while the children received private art lessons from masters and exposure to literary figures wherever they stayed.{{Cite web |title=Archives of Ontario - Anne Langton: The Early Years |url=http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/explore/online/langton/early_years.aspx |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=www.archives.gov.on.ca |language=en}}
Following the Napoleonic Wars, which ended in 1815, Thomas Langton's business in England became unstable and the family was forced to return to England from their travels and studies in 1821. On their return they were forced to sell their mansion, dismiss all but one servant, and move to a small townhouse in Liverpool. At age 16, Anne took on many of the housekeeping duties and the care of her aging parents, while continuing her art work and training when possible.{{Cite web |title=Archives of Ontario - Anne Langton: The Grand Tour - Continued |url=https://www.archives.gov.on.ca/ehttp://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/explore/online/langton/grand_tour_cont.aspxn/explore/online/langton/grand_tour_cont.aspx |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=www.archives.gov.on.ca |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Archives of Ontario - Anne Langton: Back in Britain |url=http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/explore/online/langton/in_britain.aspx |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=www.archives.gov.on.ca |language=en}}
After further financial losses, the family moved to Bootle, a small spa town north of Liverpool. Anne continued to hone her artistic skills and to visit friends and relatives throughout Britain for access to landscapes to sketch. She was also adept at painting miniatures in watercolor on ivory.{{Cite web |title=Archives of Ontario - Anne Langton: Back in Britain |url=http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/explore/online/langton/in_britain.aspx |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=www.archives.gov.on.ca |language=en}}
In 1833, Anne's brother John, after graduating from Cambridge, emigrated to Upper Canada and the family moved into a smaller house in Bootle. Langton's early years in Canada were published as A Gentlewoman in Upper Canada.{{cite book|last1=Farr|first1=Dorothy|last2=Luckyj|first2=Natalie|title=From Women's Eyes: Women Painters in Canada|date=1975|publisher=Agnes Etherington Art Centre|location=Kingston|pages=14}} By this time, nearing 30 years of age, Anne had not married and was experiencing hearing loss. By 1836, Anne's brother William had become a very successful Manchester businessman and he offered to pay his family's living expenses to enable them to stay in England, but the next year the family decided to join John Langdon in Canada.{{Cite web |title=Archives of Ontario - Anne Langton: Miniatures on Ivory |url=http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/explore/online/langton/miniatures.aspx |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=www.archives.gov.on.ca |language=en}}
Anne, her parents, and a maiden aunt, departed from Liverpool on May 24, 1837, and arrived in New York three weeks later. Their land journey through Toronto to arrived Peterborough, Ontario, took nearly two months, due to sightseeing at New York and Niagara Falls, visiting, and several illnesses on the way. They settled on John's farm on Sturgeon Lake, near Fenelon Falls, Ontario.{{Cite web |title=Archives of Ontario - Anne Langton: Emigration |url=http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/explore/online/langton/emigration.aspx |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=www.archives.gov.on.ca |language=en}}
She died in 1893, in Toronto at age 88.{{Cite web |title=Archives of Ontario - Anne Langton: The Final Years |url=http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/explore/online/langton/final_years.aspx |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=www.archives.gov.on.ca |language=en}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=6212 Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online]
- [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/explore/online/langton/index.aspx Anne Langton, Gentlewoman, Pioneer Settler and Artist], online exhibit on Archives of Ontario website.
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20050221044305/http://www.kawartha.net/~fencom/Anne.html Anne Langton, The Fenelon Falls Museum]
{{Authority control (arts)}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Langton, Anne}}
Category:Canadian landscape artists
Category:English portrait painters
Category:Canadian portrait painters
Category:Canadian women non-fiction writers
Category:Artists from Lancashire
Category:English emigrants to pre-Confederation Ontario
Category:19th-century Canadian painters
Category:19th-century Canadian women writers
Category:19th-century Canadian non-fiction writers