Mary Sargant-Florence [also known as Mary Sargant Florence, and Mary Sargent Florence] was born Emma Mary Sargant in London, England, on 21 July 1857, and was the sister of the sculptor Francis William Sargant (1870-1960). She studied art at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, under Alphonse Legros and at Académie Colarossi in Paris under Luc-Olivier Merson. She subsequently worked as a decorative muralist and fresco painter.

In 1888 she married the American opera singer Henry Smyth Florence whom she had met in Paris. She moved with him to the USA and lived in Nutley, New Jersey, but returned to England in 1892 following the death of her husband in a drowning accident. By c.1899 she had settled in Marlow, Buckinghamshire where she had a house built, "Lord's Wood", which she had designed herself. The house included a painting studio and it was her hope to establish an artists' colony in Marlow.

Between c.1909 and 1914 she was engaged on a series of frescoes for Oakham Old School in Rutland, an example of which is reproduced in 'The Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art' 1909 (p.70). She also painted a mural for Chelsea Town Hall in London in 1912-13, and frescoes for Bourneville School in near Birmingham between 1912 and 1914.

She exhibited at the New English Art Club in London in 1894 and then frequently between 1910 and 1941. She also exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1930, 1931, 1933 and 1950; Society of Women Artists in London in 1920; and at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. She participated in the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915 where she was awarded a medal. She was a founding member of the Society of Mural Decorators in 1901 and joined the New English Art Club in 1910. She was also a founding member of the Women's Guild of Arts in 1907 and by 1904 was a member of the Society of Painters in Tempera.

She taught fresco painting at the Slade School of Fine Art in 1912 and also had private pupils. Sargant-Florence was the author of 'Color Co-ordination' (London: John Lane, 1940) and was co-author, with C.K. Ogden, of 'Militarism versus Feminism' (London: Allen & Unwin, 1915). She also wrote a number of articles on fresco painting.

She illustrated at least one book - 'The Crystal Ball - A Child's Book of Fairy Ballads' by Alice Sargant (London: Geo. Bell & Sons, 1895).

Sargant-Florence was politically active in Suffragette circles and in c.1909 joined the Artists' Suffrage League. She designed at least one banner, 'Dare to be Free' for the Women's Freedom League, and a poster, 'What's Sauce for the Goose' for the Artists' Suffrage League in 1908. She was commissioned by the Suffrage Atelier to design a banner depicting John Hampden, the seventeenth-century tax-resister. She also designed a bookplate for books in the Women's Freedom League library in 1909.

Sargant-Florence died in Twickenham, Middlesex, on 14 December 1954.

_{Text source: Art History Research net (AHR net)}