Maria Martin

Illustration of Coluber elapsoides by Maria Martin as published in North American herpetology

Maria Martin Bachman (3 July 1796 – 27 December 1863)^[1] of Charleston, South Carolina, USA, was a watercolor painter who provided many of the background paintings for John James Audubon on The Birds of America (1831–39) and Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America (1845–48).^[2]

The U.S. Audubon Society named a variety of the Hairy woodpecker (Picus martinae) Maria's Woodpecker, in honor of her.

Biography

Maria was born in 1796 to Rebecca Solars and Jacob Martin. As the youngest sister, she moved in with her ailing sister Harriet Martin Bachman and her eight children.^[3] Harriet's husband was Reverend John Bachman, a Lutheran pastor of St. John's Church in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1831 John James Audubon became a guest at Reverend Bachman's house. During this month-long stay, Audubon encouraged Maria to assist with paintings for his Birds of North America book.^[4] Martin also provided illustrations to John Edwards Holbrook for publication in his work North American Herpetology.^[5]

After the death of her sister in 1846, Maria married John Bachman in 1848.

References

1. James, Edward T., ed. (1974). Notable American women, 1607-1950 : a biographical dictionary. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. p. 505. ISBN 0674627342.
2. Bailey, Martha J. (1994). American Women in Science:A Biographical Dictionary. ABC-CLIO, Inc. ISBN 0-87436-740-9.
3. Charleston County Public Library. "Maria Martin Bachman". Retrieved 4 June 2011.
4. johnbachman.org. "Timeline for John Bachman". Retrieved 4 June 2011.
5. Thompson, Daniel (2008). Early American nature writers : a biographical encyclopedia. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0313346801.

• "Martin, Maria". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Accessed 7 March 2007
• "Martin, Maria." Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Charles Reagan Wilson and William Ferris, eds. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989.

Further reading

• Bachman, C.L., ed. John Bachman D.D.
• Bannon, L.E., Handbook of Audubon Prints. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing Co., Inc., 1980.
• Bonta, M.M., Women in the Field: America's Pioneering Women Naturalists. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 1991, Chapter 2, Maria Martin: Audubon's Sweetheart.
• Coffin, Annie Roulhac, New York Historical Society Quarterly (January 1965)
• Corning, Howard, ed. Letters of John James Audubon, 1826-1840. 1930.
• Ford, A., John James Audubon: A Biography. New York: Abbeville Press, 1988. <