Amelia Opie
- Artist: John Opie
- Date: 1798
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 29 1/4 in. x 24 1/2 in. (743 mm x 622 mm)
- Portrays: Amelia Opie
- Museum: The National Portrait Gallery
- Collection record: The National Portrait Gallery website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
In front of you is a portrait by John Opie, painted in 1798. The canvas measures about 29 inches high and 24 inches wide, a comfortable size that lets us see every detail in oils. Amelia sits with her head slightly turned; she wears a simple hat and plain clothing, the kind of modest attire common to Regency portraits. Her eyes gaze forward, suggesting the writer’s steady mind.
The picture was made at the time of her marriage to the artist himself. After John’s death in 1807, Amelia returned to Norwich, became a Quaker in 1825, and devoted herself to improving workhouses, hospitals, prisons and the abolition of slavery. A proud novelist and early feminist, she wrote “Adeline Mowbray” in 1804, drawing on her friend Mary Wollstonecraft’s ideas.
This oil portrait captures not just a face but a whole chapter of late‑eighteenth‑century life: a marriage, a literary career, and later social activism.
See it in person
Amelia Opie is in the collection of The National Portrait Gallery at St Martin's Place, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
