Born: 10 May 1771, France
Died: 14 September 1849
Country most active: France, United States
Also known as: Henriette Anne Marguérite Joséphine Rouillé de Marigny
The following is republished from New Jersey Women’s History, in line with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Baroness Hyde de Neuville (Anne Marguerite Henriette de Marigny) (unknown-1849) arrived in New Jersey from France, with her husband, in 1807. After the French Revolution, she saved her royalist husband’s life by securing him safe passage, by traveling alone across Europe to intercede with Napoleon. In order for the couple to escape from France, she posed as her husband’s mother until they arrived safely in the U.S. They settled on a merino sheep farm in the New Brunswick area. For a number of years, the couple journeyed to New York City and to various settlements along the Hudson. After Napoleon was defeated and the King restored to the throne, the Baron and Baroness returned to France. However, the Baron was rewarded for his loyalty and named French Ambassador to the United States, so the couple returned there to take up residency in the new capital, Washington. The Baroness continued to produce watercolors, many of which survive, depicting life during the Federalist era. She often painted scenes of Native American life, as well as pictures of African Americans. Both were rather rare subjects for an artist of this era to choose, especially one committed to keeping a monarchy in power.
References:
Hyde de Neuville, Jean Guillaume, and Frances Jackson. 1970. Memoirs of Baron Hyde de Neuville: outlaw, exile, ambassador. London: Sands. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/970956779
Olson, Roberta J. M., Charlene M. Boyer Lewis, and Alexandra Mazzitelli. 2019. Artist in exile: the visual diary of Baroness Hyde de Neuville. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1102600612
Dotson, Lloyd Clay. 1986. The Diplomatic mission of Baron Hyde de Neuville to the United States, 1816-1822. Ann Arbor (Michigan): University microfilms international. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/491646700
Sturtevant, William C. “Patagonian Giants and Baroness Hyde de Neuville’s Iroquois Drawings.” Ethnohistory 27, no. 4 (1980): 331-348.