The artist Sarah Biffin, born in 1784, came from humble origins yet rose to fame in the 19th century as a remarkably talented miniaturist, undertaking commissions for royalty.
As a working-class, disabled female artist, her artwork – many proudly signed “without hands” – is a testament to her talent and life-long determination.
But despite her prolific artistic output and appearance in numerous published memoirs, letters and literary works by leading figures of her age, Sarah Biffin’s remarkable life has been largely overlooked by art historians.
Until now. A new exhibition at Philip Mould & Company gallery in Pall Mall, the first to focus on Sarah in a century, hopes to rectify this with an exhibition of her work running from November 1 to December 21.
With advisor, artist Alison Lapper, born 180 years later with the same condition, consultant and contributor, Professor Essaka Joshua, a specialist in disability studies, Without Hands will celebrate Ms Biffin as a disabled artist who challenged contemporary attitudes to disability.
Sarah Biffin was born in Somerset with the condition phocomelia, described on her baptism record as born without arms and legs.
She spent her childhood in her family home where she learnt to sew and write.
As a teenager, she was contracted to Emmanuel Dukes who ran a travelling sideshow, where she was described as the ‘Eighth Wonder’.
In her mid-20s she began formal tuition with a miniature painter, William Marshall Craig and from 1816, she set herself up as an independent artist, travelling the length and breadth of the UK, before finally settling in Liverpool.
Throughout her long and successful career – she lived until the age of 66 – she took commissions from nobility and royalty (notably portraying William II King of Holland, when Prince of Orange) and recorded her own likeness across the years through exquisitely detailed self-portraits.
Following the story of her life, Without Hands will include around 25 works that showcase Ms Biffin’s artistic achievements.
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