Claire Tomalin
- Artist: Rebecca Driffield
- Date: 2017
- Medium: oil on linen
- Dimensions: 59 in. x 19 5/8 in. (1500 mm x 500 mm) overall
- Portrays: Claire Tomalin
- Museum: The National Portrait Gallery
- Collection record: The National Portrait Gallery website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
In this portrait of Claire Tomalin we see a quiet, dignified figure seated against a simple background. The canvas is oil on linen – the fabric’s subtle texture adds depth to her skin tone and to the gentle folds of her drapery. Rebecca Driffield has used soft light to bring out Tomalin’s thoughtful gaze, which rests calmly upon a stack of books that frame her hands. The artist’s brushwork reveals delicate lines that give the portrait both realism and an almost sketch‑like intimacy.
Tomalin, born in 1933, is a respected writer and trustee of this very gallery. She has chronicled figures such as Mary Wollstonecraft, Charles Dickens, and Samuel Pepys, which makes her own life a kind of biography reflected in this canvas. The painting, finished in December 2017, invites us to pause at the meeting of personal history and artistic craft.
See it in person
Claire Tomalin 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.
