Side A: Born in Massachusetts in 1805, Sala Bosworth spent all but nineteen years of his eighty-five years in Washington County. After studying at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts, he returned to the county to paint many full size and miniature portraits of prominent Washington County citizens. His historical drawings were used in Samuel P. Hildreth’s Pioneer History. He is also known for his mural in what is now the Unitarian Universalist Church in Marietta. Bosworth moved to Cincinnati late in life and started to paint with watercolors. He died there in 1890. Charles Sullivan also studied at the Philadelphia Academy and became a fast friend of Bosworth after coming to Washington County in 1833. While he also painted portraits, he excelled in his landscapes, including views of Blennerhassett Island, the Blennerhassett mansion, and the mounds at Marietta. Sullivan died in Marietta in 1867.
Side B: Lily Martin Spencer came to Washington County with her parents at the age of 11 in 1833. Her artistic talent was already recognized and she decorated the walls of her new home with charcoal sketches. A student of Bosworth and Sullivan, she began to work with oils and had her first exhibition in the county in 1841. Later that year she left with her father for Cincinnati for more schooling. She married Benjamin Spencer in 1844 and became the breadwinner for the family. Most of her paintings showed life from the woman’s domestic point of view, while aiming at moral improvement. She was one of the leading genre artists of the time. She died in New York in 1902.
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