A character interview with Patience Lovell Wright
This is a character Interview with Patience Lovell Wright, a Reviolutiuonary War era sculptor and featured character in the time travel novel UNDOING TIME. Women artists feature in my stories because they don’t feature enough in art history. It’s my way of bringing to our attention extraordinary painters, writers, sculptors, and musicians who didn’t make it into the canon of history — precisely because of their gender.
Patience Wright is in a category of her own. I’m not sure she’d have wanted history to remember her. She was too busy shaping the political currents of her time, as she hosted guests in her famous London art salon. Her correspondents included Benjamin Franklin, and it’s rumored she participated in a spy network that helped the Colonies win the American Revolution.
Of course, I had to make this fascinating woman a character. I sent one of my time traveling heroines back to meet her and to be inspired. Patience Lovell Wright was nothing if not an inspiring role model for a young woman! And now I have to do a character interview with this eccentric artist.
Who Are You, Patience Wright?
Q: Who Are You, Patience Wright?
A: Born a Quaker on Long Island, I becamed a rsculptress of wax portraits. Very fashionable in my day, to have your likeness cast! It could be used for remembrance, sent to someone out of love, or exhibited in your grand home for vanity.
Q: Is it true you were a spy for the Patriots during the American Revolution.?
A: How many spies would answer that question?
Q: It’s almost 250 years since your alleged spying activities. Statute of limitations has run out. I ask again, did you spy for George Washington?
A: If you’re really sure it’s been long enough … I would call it timely communications. You see, many of the proud nobles and noted politicians of London society attended my open salon days. In the West End I set up a popular waxworks show of historical tableaux and celebrity wax figures. I had a grand house with spacious art studio attached, where I opened my doors for weekly teas, welcoming visitors and playing up my role as the rustic American! Wore wooden shoes, modeled with the wax under my apron as I talked, and then produced a likeness of the person I was talking to. They called me the Promethean sculptress!
Q: And how did the spying — er, timely communication — come about?
A: People love to talk about themselves and their activities. Officers of the Royal Navy were among my guests and portrait subjects. They would talk freely with the politicians who attended, often betraying troop movements. They were sure their secrets couldn’t reach the Patriots in time to make a difference. But I had a secret weapon.
The Secret Weapon
Q: What was your secret weapon?
A: My time traveling friends, who could get across an ocean faster than any ship. My old friend George St. James — a very kind gentleman who appreciates art and has the knack of slipping through time — brought me a charming young companion from the future. This young woman, Liv Pomeroy, had hidden talents of her own, but she needed a mentor. And I missed my sister, so Liv’s company was a tonic in my old age. She proved useful in many ways.
Q: What is the most urgent and important message you had to send via time travel?
A: I had to reach General Stark at his encampment in Vermont with the news that the Recoats were planning am ambush.
Q: Whom did you entrust to carry the message?
A: Liv Pomeroy, my guest from the future. The problem was, she hadn’t done any time traveling on her own. But desperate times … desperate measures … could be my middle name!
From Quaker Girlhood to Internationally Acclaimed Artist and Spy
Q: How did a devout Quaker childhood lead you to wax sculpture, London society, and espionge?
A: As a child, I often amused myself by molding faces out of putty, bread dough, and wax. When my husband died, I was pregnant with a fourth child and had to support the family. I worked with my sister Rachel Wells, and we set up a business molding portraits in tinted wax. It was a very popular art. We charged admission to see our works. By 1770, we were successful enough to open a waxworks house in New York City.
Q: What were your portraits like?
A: They were life-sized figures or busts. Modeled from life — I was very quick — I gave them real clothing and glass eyes. People considered them very lifelike. They were often placed in tableaux, illustrating the activities the portrayed individual might have undertaken in life. But then, everything was destroyed in a fire. And I went to England.
Q: How did you manage to establish yourself in that country?
A: I had a friend, Jane Mecom. Her brother was Benjamin Franklin. Oh, Franklin knew everybody! He gave me introductions and soon I had another even more popular waxworks show; depicting historical figures in wax. I was even incite3d to model King George! That tyrant who wouldn’t let our colonies become independent. Liv accompanied me on that occasion. I believe she was suitably horrified at the behavior of the mad king. But you’ll have to read our story to find out what happened then!
Q: Patience Lovell Wright, thank you very much for talking with us.
A: My pleasure. If you liked this character interview — are you calling me a characgter? Well, if the wooden shoe fits … Read more about me in Undoing Time. It’s a good book! And it’s written by a woman.
