Dame (Emma) Maud McCarthy
- Artist: Francis Owen ('Frank') Salisbury
- Date: 1917
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 23 3/4 in. x 19 1/4 in. (604 mm x 487 mm) uneven
- Portrays: Dame (Emma) Maud McCarthy
- Museum: The National Portrait Gallery
- Collection record: The National Portrait Gallery website
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About this artwork
In front of you is a portrait of Dame (Emma) Maud McCarthy by Francis Owen “Frank” Salisbury, painted in oil on canvas in 1917. The canvas shows her at mid‑profile, face serene, eyes looking forward. She wears the silver Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Medal prominently across her chest, set against her plain but well‑cut dress. The portrait feels intimate: the background is simple, and Salisbury keeps a subtle texture of brushwork that suggests soft fabric.
This oil was a preparatory sketch for a large mural at the Royal Exchange in London. It depicts McCarthy meeting Queen Mary inside a field hospital in France, and it was made while she worked on the painting there. She was born in Sydney, trained as a nurse in London, and sailed on the first troop ship to France in 1914. In WWI she served as Matron‑in‑Chief of the British Expeditionary Forces, overseeing some 6 000 nurses from the English Channel to the Mediterranean.
See it in person
Dame (Emma) Maud McCarthy 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.
