Anne Seymour Damer

Despite being married to a British Lord, Anne Seymour Damer, a widely respected sculptor in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s, preferred wearing men’s clothing and keeping a woman lover. After the death of her husband, Damer moved into a house and lived a long and productive public life with her mate, Mary Berry.

Best known for the heads of the river gods, Isis and Thame, which she sculpted for the bridge at Henley-on-Thame, Oxon (in Great Britain), Damer received commissions from King George III and Napoleon and asked to be buried with her sculpting tools. A small bronze bust of Berry sculpted by Damer turned up at Christie’s famed auction house in recent times and was considered so fine a piece of art that it sold for the equivilent of about $100,000. Apparently, in-your-face women pass the test of time.