Betsy Flagg Melcher

Margaret Elizabeth Flagg Melcher (April 8, 1900 – 1991) was an American miniature portraitist who was the daughter of noted architect Ernest Flagg.

Betsy Flagg Melcher
Born	Margaret Elizabeth Flagg (1900-04-08)April 8, 1900 New York, New York, U.S.
Died	April 21, 1991(1991-04-21) (aged 91) Ellsworth, Maine, U.S.
Education	Miss Spence's School
Spouse(s)	John Stevens Melcher Jr. ​ ( m. 1925; died 1956)
Awards	Levantia White Boardman Memorial Medal

Early life and education

Melcher was born in New York City on April 8, 1900. She was a daughter of Ernest Flagg (1857–1947) and Margaret Elizabeth (née Bonnell) Flagg (1882–1978). Her father was the architect of many famous buildings, including the Singer Building, the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington.[1]

Her paternal grandparents were Amelia Louisa (née Hart) Flagg and Jared Bradley Flagg, a prominent painter who was the son of Henry Collins Flagg and the younger brother of artist George Whiting Flagg.[2]

Betsy graduated from Miss Spence's School and was a member of the Junior League, for whom she made illustrations.[3]

Career

Melcher is known for painted miniature portraits. She studied under Cecilia Beaux,[4] Mabel Rose Welch, and Alfred Hoen.[5] She painted portraits of Marguerite Yourcenar, Brooke Astor, August Belmont, Jr., Samuel Eliot Morison, and Mary Parkman Peabody.[6]

In 1942, she was awarded the Levantia White Boardman Memorial Medal of the American Society of Miniature Painters.[7] In 1951 at the fiftieth annual exhibition of miniatures--antique and contemporary--of the Pennsylvania Society of Miniature Painters, she was awarded the prize for "a miniature of outstanding worth".[8]

She served as president of the American Society of Miniature Painters.[4]

Personal life

On May 16, 1925, she was married to Harvard graduate John Stevens Melcher Jr. (1895–1956)[9] in the chantry of Grace Church by the Rev. Dr. Walter Bowie.[10] Melcher, an investment banker, was the son of John Stevens Melcher, a well known attorney,[11] and Margaret Greenleaf (née Homer) Melcher.[9] He was also the great-grandson of Paran Stevens, one of the proprietors of the old Fifth Avenue Hotel.[3] Together, they lived at 170 East 78th Street in New York and Northeast Harbor, Maine, and were the parents of two daughters:

• Pamela Melcher (1927–2005), a painter who worked as an accountant for her maternal grandfather for a number of years.[12] Her life partner was Lyman Spire King (1930-2017).[13]
• Ursula Ward Melcher (b. c. 1930), who married Comte Marc de Fontaines de Logéres, of Château de Legeres in Ardèche in 1953.[1] Prince Edouard de Lobkowicz was best man at the wedding.[14]

Upon her death in 1991, she was buried in Forest Hill Cemetery in Northeast Harbor, Maine.

Descendants

Through her second daughter Ursual, she was a grandmother of three, Guy de Fontaines de Logéres, Aymeric de Fontaines de Logéres, and Marc de Fontaines de Logéres Jr.[12]

Notable works

• Old Woman in Grey, watercolor on ivory, 1931; Smithsonian American Art Museum[15]
• "Ernest Flagg", watercolor on ivory, National Gallery of Art. formerly (2014) in the Corcoran Gallery of Art[16]

References

1. "URSULA MELCHER ENGAGED TO COUNT; Wed to Marc de Legeres, Croix de Guerre Winner" (PDF). The New York Times. 20 October 1953. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
2. "ERNEST FLAGG, 90, ARCHITECT, ISDEAD; Dean of American Profession Designed U, S. Naval Academy and Local Singer Building" (PDF). The New York Times. 11 April 1947. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
3. "MISS FLAGG ENGAGED TO J. S. MELCHER JR.; Troth of Junior League Member Announced by Her Parents" (PDF). The New York Times. 9 November 1924. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
4. "Betsy Flagg Melcher". Search Collections. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
5. Falk, Peter Hastings, Who Was Who in American Art, Sound View Press, Madison Connecticut, 1985
6. "Melcher Exhibit to Open". The Ellsworth American. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
7. "MINIATURISTS OPEN 44TH ANNUAL SHOW; The Levantia White Boardman Medal Goes to Mary McMillan for Portrait, 'Elizabeth'" (PDF). The New York Times. 3 February 1943. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
8. TIMES, Special to THE NEW YORK (27 October 1951). "NEW YORK ARTISTS CITED; Edna Simpson, Betsy Melcher Win Pennsylvania Awards" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
9. Times, Special to The New York (29 July 1956). "John Melcher, 60, Investment Banker" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
10. "MISS BETSY FLAGG BRIDE, Married to John Melcher In Chantry of Grace Church" (PDF). The New York Times. 17 May 1925. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
11. "JOHN S. MELCHER; Lawyer Headed Society to Aid Ruptured and Crippled" (PDF). The New York Times. 29 July 1945. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
12. "PAMELA MELCHER". Bangor Daily News. September 25, 2008. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
13. "Lyman Spire King Obituary". www.jordanfernald.com. Jordan-Fernald Funeral Homes. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
14. "URSULA MELCHER BECOMES A BRIDE; Former Art Student Married to Comte Marc de Fontaines de Logeres in Church Here" (PDF). The New York Times. 12 December 1953. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
15. "Old Woman in Grey". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
16. Ernest Flagg, (painting).

External links

• Betsy Flagg Melcher at Find a Grave
• Betsy Flagg Melcher, American, 1900 - 1991, Melcher, Mrs. John at the National Gallery of Art.
• Pamela Melcher Papers at the Center for Migration Studies.