Agnes Dean Abbatt was born June 23, 1847-1917 in New York City. The family came from England in the late 18th century. Her mother was French Huguenot. The family settled in Pleasant Valley, Dutchess County, New York where her father William Abbatt was born. Her maternal grandmother, Mrs. Dean, was an accomplished amateur artist. All of her grandchildren could paint, but Agnes was the only one to pursue the art profession.

In 1873 she entered the Cooper Union art school and won the medal for a head of Ajax her first year. She was admitted to the National Academy of Design in New York with the merit of achievement that same year Her first full-length drawing was selected for exhibition. She did not want to be a figure painter, so she left the academy to study landscape painting. Abbatt studied under James D. Smillie and R. Swain Gifford. She chose to study watercolor and in 1875 her first two watercolor panels of flowers were exhibited at Brooklyn Art Club. In 1880 her watercolor "When Autumn Turns to Leaves" was shown in New York City. This same year she was elected to the American Water Color Society. Agnes was the second woman member of the society.

The coast of Maine, Westchester, County New York, the east end of Long Island, and Massachusetts Bay were her favorite rural landscape scenes. "In Lobster Lane, Magnolia, Mass" won a silver medal at the exhibition of Charitable Mechanics' and Tradesmen's Association of Boston. Her works are oil, watercolor and pastels. In addition to her art career she was also a studio art teacher in Washington DC, Troy, NY and New Haven, CN. Her field teaching was in New York, Massachusetts and Maine

From Askart, written and submitted February 2004 by Janet G. Smith, art historian, art consultant and art authenticator.