Portrait of Crimean War Nurse Mary Seacole Acquired by National Portrait Gallery

Posted in Articles, Arts, History, Media Archive, United Kingdom, Women on 2012-02-26 00:08Z by Steven

Portrait of Crimean War Nurse Mary Seacole Acquired by National Portrait Gallery

artdaily.org
2012-02-12


Mary Seacole by Albert Charles Challen, 1869. ©National Portrait Gallery, London.

LONDON.- The only known painting of Mary Seacole, the black Victorian nurse regarded as one of the most significant figures to emerge from the Crimean War, is to remain at the National Portrait Gallery where it has been on loan since 2004. The iconic portrait has been bought for £130, 000 through a public appeal by the Gallery and a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant of £96,200.

Painted by Albert Challen in 1869, the portrait—which was discovered in 2004 by its owner, the biographer, writer and historian, Helen Rappaport—shows Seacole wearing the three medals which she was awarded for her service.

Born in Jamaica (c.1805 – 1881), Seacole was a nurse, adventurer and writer whose bravery, compassion and determination mark her as an exceptional figure in Victorian society. She travelled independently to Balaklava where she and her business partner, Thomas Day, opened the British Hotel between the harbour and British Headquarters. It served as an officers’ club, a canteen for troops and a base for her nursing activities. She remained in the Crimea until July 1856. She was a familiar figure to British newspaper readers through reports in The Times, Punch and elsewhere. Her autobiography, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands, was published in 1857 and sold well.

Since the 1970s, the development of a Black and Asian historiography has given her a central place in black British history. In 2004, Seacole was voted Greatest Black Briton in an online poll (http://www.100greatblackbritons.com/). As an inspirational figure in British history and with a growing reputation she has also begun to be regarded as an exemplary figure among all audiences regardless of ethnicity. With no formal training, nor from a wealthy middle-class background, Seacole overcame both racial and gender restrictions to establish herself as a notable humanitarian whose hands-on approach to nursing has become an inspiration to nurses today…

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