ANNE HALL. 299
to the gentle influences of nature, while her genius is ever responsive to immortal Art.”
Anne Hall was born in Pomfret, Connecticut. She was the third daughter of Dr. Jonathan Hall, a physician of distinction. Her talent for art was early de- veloped, and her father, who loved painting, endeav- ored to foster the promise of her childhood. A visit- or having presented her with a box of colors and pen- cils, she began to use them; and her father, who was pleased with her progress, procured for her a box of colors from China. She had a brother who admired and valued pictures, and whose praise encouraged her to continue her childish attempts. He supplied her with such materials as she needed for drawing and painting. Every hint she received from artists was turned to account, and she gave herself to her favor- ite occupation with enthusiasm, She delighted in im- itating nature; and fruits, birds, flowers, and even fish and insects were subjects for her pencil; but she took especial pleasure in producing likenesses of her friends. Living in a retired part of the country, she had little access to paintings of value for a long time; but, be- ing sent on a visit to a relative in Newport, Rhode Island, she received some instruction in painting on ivory from Mr. Samuel King, who had been an early teacher of Alston, and also of Malbone. Miss Hall gained less knowledge from her master’s lessons, how- ever, than from copying some paintings of the old masters which her brother afterward sent home from Cadiz and other places in Spain. These were faith- fully copied on ivory in miniature. “A Mother and a Sleeping Child,” still in her possession, shows her
