Mary B. Mellen

Painter, Mary Blood was born in Sterling, Massachusetts, in 1819. Following her marriage to Rev. Charles Mellen in 1840, the couple moved to Gloucester.

During the 1850s, she was a student and assistant of Fitz Hugh Lane. Recently scholars have discovered that the relationship between Lane and Mellen, which previously was thought of as master artist and student, was really more than that. Mellen's style may imitate Lane's, however Mellen completed several of Lane's paintings, expertly copied a number of Lane's seascape and landscape paintings and often collaborated with Lane. In fact, scholars have noted that there are several canvases that could have been easily ascribed to Lane himself, that are in fact by Mellen.

Source:

Peter Falk, "Who Was Who in American Art"