Item Summary

Descriptive Information

Title
A gentleman.
Call Number
D Middle 83/GC168/Box 19/Small/Artist Biffin, Sarah GA 2012.01683
Identifier
ark:/88435/dc6395wm774
Publisher
1849.
Language
No linguistic content
Date Created
1849
Extent
1 item ; sheet 4.2 x 3.2 cm.
Source Acquisition
Gift of W. Allen Scheuch II, Princeton Class of 1976, given in honor of Meg Whitman, Princeton Class of 1977.
Rights Statement
Copyright Not Evaluated
Notes
Medium: Watercolors on ivory
Depiction: Bust portrait, 3/4 left profile of a gentleman wearing black coat, white chemise, and black stock.
Signed in ink, verso: "1849 // Painted // by // Miss Biffin // without // hands // Liverpool".
Artist information: Born with no arms or hands, legs or feet, Biffin taught herself to perform a variety of everyday tasks using her mouth and shoulders. She developed a talent for drawing and painting, became an expert seamstress, and performed these abilities before a crowd of spectators. Charles Dickens mentioned her in Nicholas Nickelby and Martin Chuzzlewit.
Provenance: "sold as lot with engraving of Sarah Biffin by H. Gamblin . . . Sold Bonhams Lot 204, Portrait Miniatures & Silhouettes, February 19, 2008 over estimate at 780 pounds. Now for sale at Elle Shushan, Philadelphia".--Alexandra Davis, from her master list of Biffin works.
Item description: Elle Shushan had the ivory placed in a new gilded brass frame behind glass, obscuring the signature.

Discovery Information

Subject
Portraits—19th century
Men—19th century—Portraits
Portraits

Physical Characteristics

File Count
2

Institutional Information

Collection
Omega Project
Selections from the Graphic Arts Collection
IIIF Manifest URL

https://figgy.princeton.edu/concern/scanned_resources/4d0b6998-ed82-479d-becc-9b36269a8cfa/manifest