Harriet Mathew

Who is Harriet Mathew?

Harriet Mathew, wife of the Reverend Anthony Stephen Mathew, was an 18th century London socialite and patron of the arts, who is considered an important early patron of John Flaxman and William Blake.

Alexander Gilchrist, in his Life of Blake, writes of her:

John Thomas Smith was introduced to Blake by Mrs Mathew and heard him read and sing his poetry on several occasions; it was here that the qualities of his voice and reception of his audience were recorded in his contemporary biographical notes. Smith also notes she was "extremely zealous in promoting the celebrity of Blake" and as responsible, via her husband and his friends, for the printing of his Poetical Sketches. Blake later satirised the Mathews, and the Johnson Circle and dinners, in 'An Island in the Moon'.

A vaguely detailed story regarding the Mathews early patronage of Flaxman was first given by J. T. Smith, and repeated by Blake and Flaxman's biographers. A collection of sketches bearing titles of 'Harriet Mathew' and her relations have been attributed to Flaxman.