Mary P. Merrifield

Mary Philadelphia Merrifield (née Watkins; 15 April 1804 – 4 January 1889) was a British writer on art and fashion. She later became an algologist (an expert on seaweed).

Life

She was born Mary Philadelphia Watkins in Brompton, London in 1804. Her father, Sir Charles Watkins, was a barrister who specialised in transferring property ownership. In 1826/7, she married John Merrifield and gave birth in 1827 to a son, Charles Watkins Merrifield, and a second son Frederick Merrifield in 1831. Their other children were Henry born 1830, Emily born 1835 and Edward born 1836.

They later moved to Dorset Gardens, Brighton. Her husband worked as a barrister and she undertook the translation of a book on painting by the 15th-century artist Cennino Cennini. The book, Treatise of Painting, was published in 1844.

In 1846, she published The Art of Fresco Painting, which was a commission for the Royal Commission on the Fine Arts, being assisted by her two sons. In 1850, she exhibited her paintings in the first art exhibition held in Brighton's Royal Pavilion.

In 1851, Merrifield wrote the essay Harmony of Colours, which was published in The Art-Journal Illustrated Catalogue of the Great Exhibition. The text formed part of the introductory essays accompanying the richly illustrated catalogue of decorative arts objects exhibited at the Great Exhibition in London.

In 1854, she chose a different subject and published Dress as a Fine Art, which supported the more practical improvements of Amelia Bloomer. Her approach challenged stereotypes, showing that fashion was a subject capable of scientific study. She demonstrated that people who were interested in fashion could aspire to academic interest.