Mary Somerville

Inscriptionback to top

Signed and dated (lower left): James R Swinton/7^th March 1848

This portraitback to top

The NPG drawing was engraved by F. Holl, published J. Murray, 1848 (example in NPG), for Mary Somerville's Physical Geography, I, frontispiece; it was also engraved by F. Croll (example in NPG), for the portrait gallery of 'Hogg's Weekly Instructor', and a woodcut after it was published ILN, LXI (1872), 573. The original elaborate frame of the drawing was carved by the donor. An earlier three-quarter length painting of Mary Somerville by Swinton, executed in Rome in 1844, was exhibited VE, 1892 (159), lent by Sir William Ramsay-Fairfax, and probably Victorian Era Exhibition, 1897, 'Women's Work Section, Historical Division' (15).

Physical descriptionback to top

Healthy complexion, brown eyes, grey-black hair.

Provenanceback to top

The sitter, bequeathed by her daughter, Miss Martha Somerville, 1879 (owing to a misunderstanding the portrait did not enter the collection until 1883).


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Ormond, Early Victorian Portraits, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1973, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.

View all known portraits for Mary Somerville