Maria Spilsbury

Her younger brother was Jonathan Robert Henry Spilsbury, who was baptized on 7 December 1779 at St Marylebone, London.

In 1789, her father moved the family to Ireland, working as a tutor for Mrs Sarah Tighe of Rossana, County Wicklow.

In addition to learning art from her father (who was a friend and contemporary of Joshua Reynolds and Charles Wesley) Spilsbury was tutored in colored painting by Sir William Beecher and in music by Charles Wesley the Younger, who proclaimed her the best amateur organist in London.

Contemporary accounts suggest that her studio on St. George's Row, London, was so popular that up to twenty carriages could be seen outside it on weekly private viewing days.

Today, her paintings can be found in both private and public collections including those of the National Gallery of Ireland and the British Museum.