About Nelly Littlehale Murphy

Name variants

Nellie Littlehale Umbstaetter
  • Biography

    Born in Stockton, California, Nelly Murphy was a painter of decorative floral still lifes and landscapes and an illustrator of children's literature. Murphy grew up in California, later settled in Lexington, Massachusetts and became active in the Boston area. She studied at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and with Joseph DeCamp and C. Howard Walker at the MFA School from 1885-87. In 1893 she married Herman Daniel Umbstaetter, an editor, publisher, and short story writer. After his death in 1913, she became the second wife of the painter Hermann Dudley Murphy, who had courted Nelly when they were students in Boston.

    Early in her career she illustrated several children's stories and poems. This whimsical and fanciful style is evident in...

    But wait, there's more...

    Displaying 1,479 of 1,479 characters.

    Subscriber Members, please Sign In for full artist biographies and all services.

    For non-paying users, good news! Full text bios for all artists are available every Friday.

    If you are not currently a member, please See Details about membership.

** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at .

Share an image of the Artist: .