Gifted as an artist as well as a musician, she married Richard Cosway, a painter to the Court of the Royal family in 1779. Despite the training she received and the fact she exhibited over thirty paintings at the Royal Academy, her artistic gifts were gradually stifled by her husband's reluctance to allow her to continue her artistic pursuits.During her periodic visits to Paris she met, and subsequently became involved in a love affair with Thomas Jefferson. Cosway went on to found schools for girls in Lyons, France and in Lodi.