Dame Cicely Saunders

Not currently on display

Dame Cicely Saunders
by Catherine Goodman, 2005
© Catherine Goodman

Sandy Nairne, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, says: "This is a portrait that conveys all of the insight and determination of Cicely Saunders. She is a figure of great national importance."

A new oil painting of one of Britain's greatest humanitarians Dame Cicely Saunders is unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery on Monday 25 April. A pioneer of modern palliative care, Cicely Saunders has helped change the way the world cares for the terminally ill. She is a Founder Trustee and President of a new force in hospice care - The Cicely Saunders Foundation. This unique charity, founded in 2002, seeks to improve the care of people at the end of life wherever they are cared for. The Foundation will discover better ways of treating the problems experienced by patients, their families and carers and promote best practice across the globe. The portrait is by Catherine Goodman and is commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery with support from BP.

Dame Cicely Saunders (b1918) trained as a nurse, medical social worker and physician. Since 1948 she has been involved with the care of patients with terminal illness and has lectured and published widely on the subject. She founded St. Christopher's Hospice in 1967 as the first research and teaching hospice linked with clinical care. St Christopher's has been acknowledged as a place patients could go for relief of 'total pain' through physical, psychological, social and spiritual care emphasising the importance of listening to the patient's story and of understanding the experience of suffering in a multi-dimensional way. In this approach she is credited as the founder of the modern hospice movement.

Dame Cicely holds many honours including degrees and the Order of Merit and was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1980. In 2001 she received the Conrad N Hilton Humanitarian Prize - the world's largest humanitarian award - of one million dollars for the work originated at St Christopher's Hospice.

Artist Catherine Goodman (b1961) attended Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts and Royal Academy Schools before winning the 1987 Royal Academy Gold Medal and first prize in the BP Portrait Award in 2002 for her portrait of her friend Antony Sutch, Headmaster of Downside School in Somerset. She exhibits at Marlborough Fine Art and is Director of the Prince's Drawing School.

Links
- Other portraits of Dame Cicely Saunders at the National Portrait Gallery

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All images and text are subject to copyright protection. 14 October 2008