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Portrait of William Pateshall, B.A.

Portrait Miniature
23 March 1811 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Sarah Biffin (artist)
Place of origin
Oxford (painted)

This miniature of the Reverend William Pateshall was made by Sarah Biffin. Biffin was a renowned miniature painter in Britain with royal patronage and regular exhibits at the Royal Academy. She was born with phocomelia, without arms and legs, and painted her pictures in extraordinary detail by holding a brush between her teeth.

Object details

Categories
Paintings
Portraits
Miniatures
Woman Artist
Disability
Object type
Portrait miniature
TitlePortrait of William Pateshall, B.A. (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Watercolour on ivory
Ivory
Watercolour
Watercolour Painting
Brief description
Portrait miniature, Portrait of William Pateshall, B.A., by Sarah Biffin, watercolour on ivory, 1811
Physical description
Portrait miniature on ivory of a man with a sheet of paper at the back with an inscription.
Dimensions
  • Height: 7.3cm
  • Width: 6.0cm
Dimensions taken from Victoria & Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings Accessions 1954. London: HMSO, 1963.
Style
British School
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'This Miniature of the Revd Wm Pateshall was taken by the celebrated Miss Beffin on the 23rd of March 1811 at Oxford; Mr. P. being at that time a Bachelor of Arts' (Inscribed on a paper at the back)
  • 'Miss Beffin was born without arms or legs & painted with her brush held between her cheek & her shoulder' (Inscribed on another paper)
Credit line
Given by Miss Silvia M. Glossop
Historical context
Portrait miniatures were frequently exchanged between loved ones and family in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain as tokens of affection and remembrance.
Subjects depicted
Clergyman
Reverend William Pateshall
Summary
This miniature of the Reverend William Pateshall was made by Sarah Biffin. Biffin was a renowned miniature painter in Britain with royal patronage and regular exhibits at the Royal Academy. She was born with phocomelia, without arms and legs, and painted her pictures in extraordinary detail by holding a brush between her teeth.
Bibliographic references
  • Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings Accessions 1954 London: HMSO, 1963
  • Emma Rutherford and Ellie Smith, Without Hands: The Art of Sarah Biffin, London: Philip Mould & Company, 2022.
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
P.22-1954

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1069726/portrait-of-william-pateshall-ba-portrait-miniature-sarah-biffin/
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