Anne Charlotte Lynch (Later Mrs. Vincenzo Botta) 1844 - 1847

This is Savinien Edme Dubourjal’s intimate watercolor portrait of Anne Charlotte Lynch, who later became Mrs. Vincenzo Botta. During the 19th century, in a world where social roles were rigidly defined by gender, Lynch emerged as a literary figure and salonnière. In her New York salon, she fostered a sense of community among writers and artists like the Alcotts, Edgar Allan Poe, and Margaret Fuller. While Lynch embraced the feminine ideals of her time, she sought avenues for intellectual expression and agency. Her salon offered women a space to engage in intellectual discourse, challenging societal norms that confined them to the domestic sphere. Lynch’s work blurred the boundaries between the personal and the political, using the private sphere of the salon to cultivate social change. Dubourjal’s portrait gives us access to this complicated history of gender, class and social change. It reminds us that even within the constraints of their time, women found ways to shape culture.