Mary Somerville

Sitterback to top

• Mary Somerville (1780-1872), Scientific scholar and writer. Sitter in 5 portraits.

Artistback to top

• James Rannie Swinton (1816-1888), Portrait painter. Artist associated with 62 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Born in Jedburgh, Scotland, to parents who did not believe in education for daughters, Mary Fairfax taught herself Euclid, algebra and the Classics at the age of fifteen. Her marriage to her cousin Samuel Greig, who was hostile to her intellectualism, ended when he died after only a few years of marriage. Mary Greig went on to study mathematics and was encouraged in her studies by her second husband, the surgeon William Somerville, whom she married in 1812. Her paper on the violet rays of the solar spectrum (1926) and her edition of Laplace's La mécanique céleste brought her much acclaim and she was elected as an honorary member of the Royal Astronomical Society. Other major works in the fields of mathematics and science followed.

Linked publicationsback to top

• Ormond, Richard, Early Victorian Portraits, 1973, p. 424
• Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 575

Subjects & Themesback to top

• Bodelwyddan Castle
• Hats and head-attire