Maria Martin

Maria Martin Bachman (3 July 1796 – 27 December 1863) of Charleston, South Carolina, was an American watercolor painter and scientific illustrator. She contributed many of the background paintings for John James Audubon's The Birds of America (1831–39) and Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America (1845–48). Bachman was the only woman of the three principal assistants that Audubon employed at the time. Early life Maria Martin Bachman was born July 6, 1796, in Charleston, South Carolina just two and half weeks after the “Great Fire of 1796” that destroyed many of the buildings and houses in the center of the city. Martin was the youngest of the four surviving children (Eliza, Harriet, and Jane) born to Jacob and Rebecca Martin, well-to-do mantua makers that owned two houses with household slaves. Raised in a Lutheran household, Maria Martin and her sisters were raised to be “God fearing, responsible adults” and trained “in the liberal arts and honourable manners”. Martin's mother Rebecca Martin had learned from her second marriage that her husband could easily take legal ownership of her property and finances. To avoid losing her property to a future husband, Rebecca had a “Marriage Settlement” drawn before marrying Jacob Martin, her third husband. When Martin was 17 years old her father Jacob left the family to relocate to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with his mistress.  Her mother's foresight allowed Rebecca to retain ownership of her houses and four slaves when her husband left. Career