Sarah Biffin, who had no arms or legs, pursued a career as a painter

women in history

This is the amazing and inspiring story of Sarah Biffin, who was undeterred by any obstacles.

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Their final destination is the United States. She couldn't reach it anymore. Sarah Biffin died from an upset stomach before she was lifted or rolled onto a large transatlantic ship in Liverpool. Just 15 days later, on October 17, 1850, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung reported her death: “Miss Sarah Biffin, the famous miniaturist who was born without hands and arms, aged 66, died in Liverpool. She painted with her toes and made such strides in her art that she won several awards.”

Unfortunately, NZZ was wrong. Because Sarah Biffin was born not only “without hands and arms,” ​​but also without feet and legs. As a painter and portraitist of British and Continental royalty, she gained great fame not with her toes but with her mouth.

Sarah was baptized just six days after her birth on 25 October 1784 in East Quantox Head (Somerset). Her parents didn't believe the little creature with arms like shoulder blades and legs just below the hip joints had much chance. survival. The parents were wrong. Because the farmer's daughter grew up to be a smart, amiable, well-liked child, but extremely stubborn and unwilling to give up.

An early self-portrait of Sarah Biffin.Picture: www.imago-images.de

At the age of eight, she decided to teach herself to sew. She practiced and practiced until she succeeded in threading the thread into the needle with her tongue, and also used her tongue to make a button on the thread. She practiced using scissors and eventually succeeded in making her own clothes. She taught herself to write when she was twelve, and two years later she met Mr. Dukes.

Dukes is a showman. He travels from bazaar to bazaar, full of human attractions, with fire-eaters, snake-women, and particularly intelligent and unusually deformed bodies. He saw strange potential in Sarah, and Sarah, who loved entertaining people, was excited by the idea of ​​becoming his new attraction. Dukes promised her parents a steady income and taught her the most basic rules of miniature painting, since Sarah's plan was to paint small portraits for the fair's naturally paying audience.

A later self-portrait of the artist, notable for the brush on the sleeve.Image: www.album-online.com

This woman, who is exactly 94 centimeters tall, has been traveling in the UK for ten years. She had a special paintbrush holder built into her sleeve so she could more easily grab them with her mouth. As the fair ad promised, she sat in a “comfortable” caravan with her easel, making her available to the audience at any time. Since noon, she has been selling autographs for a fraction of the price and portraits for a much higher price.

The miniatures are painted in watercolor on ivory panels measuring a few square centimeters. To make the color last, the plate is degreased and roughened using animal teeth, then the color is applied in thousands of dots with a hair-thin brush. These photos are very popular as gifts and awards; they can be worn as jewelry in the form of medals or can easily be taken on a trip as a keepsake to keep at home.

It was painted for her by Frances Cooper at a fair in 1810. Some of her miniatures hang on the wall behind her.Image: instagram /mapadasartesoficial

Dukes promised to pay compensation to anyone who was disappointed with Sarah's abilities and failed to recognize themselves in her likeness. No one needs one. She herself loved a fair life, but she was not satisfied with her financial output because Dukes, who made a lot of money selling her art and autographs, only paid her an extremely meager salary.

Saraf Biffin was an excellent miniaturist and a brilliant fairground attraction who was soon hailed as the “Eighth Wonder of the World,” but she was not yet a master.

This changed in 1808 after the 16th Earl of Morton attended one of their performances. Because he doesn't think of Sarah as a freak, but as an artist. He showed her work to the reigning King George III, and the two decided that Sarah should apprentice with a famous painter. The earl became her patron and bought her a studio in central London. Her customers came from all over England, and in 1821 the court awarded her a medal for excellence in her art. In the same year, the Crown Prince of the Netherlands requested her portrait and traveled to Europe.

Apart from those who paid her a lot of money for portraits and made her a rich woman, her favorite subject was the feathers of birds. Delicate, colorful, native, and exotic, she seems to have escaped earthly constraints in her feathers, rising and flying.

feather. Sarah Biffin's favorite touching theme.Photo credit: Instagram/jeremiahmeyersminiatures

Little is known about her marriage. Here's the thing: Sarah Biffin had a fan, commonly known as William Wright, some said he was a former Marine, others said he was a failed banker, who adored and doted on her until The two married in September 1824. Then he disappeared again, and of course, along with him most of his wife's assets, because after all, he had the right to own it as the husband.

Then her patron died too. Sarah Biffin was so famous that Charles Dickens had used her (not particularly well) in three of his novels that she thought she had lost everything.

Therefore, in addition to painting, she also started teaching and made every effort to strengthen relations with the court and society. She painted mathematician Ada Lovelace, considered the inventor of the first “computer,” and she painted kings, princesses and princes – she even painted a portrait of the young Queen Victoria in 1848 Creates a delightful portrait.

In 1848, Biffin painted a portrait of the young Queen Victoria.Image: via artnet.com

However, the Queen likely did not serve as her model; Biffin likely elegantly adapted an existing portrait and transformed the original throne room into a theater box, complete with railings, program books, and fans.

Thus, famous illustrators Currier & Ives drew Queen Victoria in the 1840s, most likely before Biffin.Picture: www.imago-images.de

She moved from London to Birmingham and then to the fashionable seaside resort of Brighton, where King George IV built an Indian-style pleasure palace for himself and his mistress.

At the time, the miniature paintings painted by Sarah Biffin were considered a branch of large-format oil painting. As a technically demanding so-called “intimate” art. Personal and not representative. That's exactly why it's so popular. Because large audiences have the feeling that they are watching famous subjects in a relaxed, private, non-public moment. Miniatures are the precursor to the art of photography.

Beautiful feathers again.Image: instagram/my_atg

That became Sarah Biffin's problem. In addition to declining eyesight and increasingly rapid fatigue of tongue muscles, photography became increasingly popular and replaced miniatures. These days she lives on a pension given to her by Queen Victoria.

But she still never thought about giving up, because she still had a dream when she was in her 60s: the United States. She heard about new technological and social opportunities for people with disabilities there. She moved to Liverpool. From there she wanted to go to America and live a new, freer, easier life.

In 1850, Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind embarked on a triumphant 150-concert tour of the United States from Liverpool. Just a few months later, Sarah Biffin wanted to embark on her last big adventure. As always, she had plans and had faith that they would come to fruition. She was rejected.

This article is based on papers, articles and podcasts from the NZZ Archives, the Financial Times, the Guardian and others, as well as material on display at London gallery Philip Mold & Company in the groundbreaking 2022 Sarah Biffin exhibition What If .