Sarah Biffen

Sarah Biffin (25 October 1784 – 2 October 1850), also known as Sarah Biffen, Sarah Beffin or by her married name Mrs E. M. Wright, was an English painter born in Somerset.

Biffin was born with phocomelia and had no arms and only vestigial legs, instead using her mouth to write, paint, and complete other tasks requiring implements.

She was apprenticed to a man named Emmanuel Dukes, who exhibited her as an attraction throughout England. In the St. Bartholomew's Fair of 1808, she came to the attention of George Douglas, the Earl of Morton, who went on to sponsor her to receive lessons from a Royal Academy of Arts painter, William Craig. The Society of Arts awarded her a medal in 1821 for a historical miniature and the Royal Academy accepted her paintings. The Royal Family commissioned her to paint miniature portraits of them.

When the Earl of Morton died in 1827, Biffin was left without a noble sponsor and she ran into financial trouble. Queen Victoria awarded her a Civil List pension and she retired to a private life in Liverpool.

Early life Sarah Biffin was born on 25 October 1784 in East Quantoxhead, Somerset, to Henry Biffin, a shoemaker, and his wife Sarah. She was the youngest of five children and grew up in a farmworker's cottage on the outskirts of the village. As an adult, she stood 37 inches (94 cm) tall. Although earlier accounts claimed that she had been "sold" or "given away" by her parents, recent archival research has found no evidence to support those claims. Instead, surviving records indicate that her relationship with Dukes was governed by a formal apprenticeship.

During her apprenticeship, Biffin's portrait miniatures sold for three guineas each, although later accounts suggested that she may have received as little as £5 a year from her work with Dukes. By about 1817, when she was in her early thirties, she left Dukes's employment under the patronage of the Earl of Morton.

Marriage and relationships

At the age of 39, on 6 September 1824, Biffin married William Stephen Wright, a banker's clerk. Contemporary accounts indicate that Wright had "long been attached" to Biffin before their marriage. Following the wedding, Biffin temporarily paused her painting career and began exhibiting under her married name, "Mrs E. M. Wright". though her gravestone no longer exists. A self-portrait engraved by RW Sievier and published in London in June 1821 was sold at Sotheby’s in 1986 and again at Sotheby’s on 5 December 2019. The sale was of the collection of the late Dr Erika Pohl-Ströher. The auction estimate was £800–£1200 but the final sale price was £137,500.

The first exhibition of Biffin’s work for 100 years Without Hands: the Art of Sarah Biffin, was held at the galleries of Philip Mould & Company, London in 2022.

In February 2024, BBC news reported that the Museum of Somerset in Taunton, which holds a large collection of Sarah Biffin's work, had acquired a self-portrait by the artist. A watercolour by Biffin dated circa 1812 is located in the Welcome Collection in Euston Road, London. Additional works can be found at the National Portrait Gallery, London.