Watercolour portrait, The Marchioness of Abercorn at the Cottage of Industry at Llanerchaeron, Wales,
by Sarah Biffin. ©National Trust Images/James Dobson
This painting was bought by the Lewes family from Llanerchaeron in the 20th century and was created by artist Sarah Biffin. It is the only Biffin painting in the Trust’s collection.
Sarah Biffin was a celebrated female disabled artist. She was born in 1784 to Henry Biffin a farm labourer and his wife Sarah Perkins. As a young teenager she appeared in travelling fairs where the public paid to watch her paint. Her talents and skill in fine miniature brushwork attracted the attention of The Earl of Morton who introduced her to prominent artists and funded her to receive lessons from renowned watercolourist William Craig.
She became a successful independent miniature painter and set up a studio on Bond Street in London. She was awarded a medal by the Society of Arts. The Royal Academy accepted her paintings and she was commissioned by the Royal Family to paint portrait miniatures of them. In 1827, when the Earl of Morton – Biffin’s patron, friend and confidante – died, requests for her work diminished and her financial position became increasingly precarious. Soon after, she was awarded a Civil List pension from Queen Victoria, which allowed her to retire in Liverpool. Her art remains highly collectible.
Sarah Biffin, 1821, Engraving by R.W. Sievier (after Sarah Biffin). Wellcome Collection
Alternative reading
We invited the project team to offer their own personal reflections on some of the stories in Everywhere and Nowhere. In the section below RCMG Co-Director Prof Suzanne MacLeod offers an alternative reading of Sarah Biffin’s story.
Sarah Biffin’s life is often reduced down to her physical differences – present day writers and curators often start from a perceived lack – what Sarah Biffin didn’t have, rather than simply accepting that disability is something everyday, that we all come in different shapes and sizes and that the reason we are aware of Sarah Biffin is a result of her artistic skill and talent. Of course there were aspects of her life that were driven by prejudice – the fact that she worked in a travelling fair as a kind of novelty act but ultimately her talent meant that she built a very successful career as an artist. I relate to her as a woman and admire her as an artist but I am also interested in what her life was like as she navigated such a complex world.
The scrutiny that Sarah Biffin’s body is subjected to – our obsession with that aspect of her – is a symptom of our deeply ableist society. Young people today whose physical appearance is different to a perceived norm are subjected to staring, unwelcome and unwanted comments about their bodies and attitudes and assumptions about their worth that are deeply damaging. The imagery all around us is still incredibly limited with certain types of bodies and ways of being in the world prioritised. Telling Sarah Biffin’s story and concentrating on her talents and lived experience is a way of speaking back against that ableism – and perhaps making all of us think a little more deeply about the assumptions we make.
It is crucial that her story is told because she provides a story of success and reminds us all of the diversity of human beings – that women can be successful and that disabled women can be successful.