Home of Louisa Lander
5 Summer Street (now, the Salem Inn)
Sculptor Louisa Lander (1826-1923) moved here in 1849 after the
death of her mother. Salem was familiar to her as she was the great-granddaughter
of Salem merchant Elias Hasket Derby. As a young girl, Louisa had
shown talent for modeling clay and wax. In Salem, she continued
her artistic pursuits eventually sailing for Europe in 1855 to perfect
her art. She studied in Rome with American sculptor Thomas Crawford,
and opened her own studio in 1857 where she worked on sculptures
with American themes. Her portrait bust of Salem author Nathaniel
Hawthorne was well received by him during one of his many visits,
and Louisa’s success seemed guaranteed. Unfortunately, a whispering
campaign of vicious gossip intimating indecent behavior was waged
against her by the tightly-knit community of American expatriates
in Rome. Louisa was shunned by former friends, Hawthorne among them,
and was condemned by an unofficial tribunal led by Salemite and
fellow sculptor William Wetmore Story. There was no basis for any
of these allegations, but Louisa was forced to return to Salem and
face social isolation. She mounted a successful exhibition of her
work in Boston in 1860, but the ostracism from the artistic community
and the Civil War took their toll on her spirits. She died in Washington,
D.C., lonely, embittered, and unrealized as an artist.77
Another Salem woman we remember at this site is Caroline Osgood
Emmerton who was born here and who is best known for founding the
House of the Seven Gables museum and settlement house (see S1
and S2).
Notes
77. Kathleen Lawrence files.
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