Mid-Georgian Portraits Catalogue

Elizabeth Carter (1717-1806), Scholar and writer

Writer and linguist, translated Epictetus 1758; ‘my old friend Mrs Carter could make a pudding as well as translate Epictetus from the Greek, and work a handkerchief as well as compose a poem’ (Johnson).

‘I never saw age so graceful in the female sex yet; her whole face seems to beam with goodness, piety, and philanthropy’ (Fanny Burney, 1780).

This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, National Portrait Gallery, 2004, 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.