Dame Ethel Mary Smyth
- Artist: Gilbert Bayes
- Date: 1938
- Medium: plaster
- Dimensions: 26 1/4 in. x 17 3/8 in. (668 mm x 440 mm) overall
- Portrays: Dame Ethel Mary Smyth
- Museum: The National Portrait Gallery
- Collection record: The National Portrait Gallery website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is a plaster bust by Gilbert Bays, created in 1938 for the National Portrait Gallery. You’ll see a poised woman turned slightly to the left; her face is lit by subtle shading that gives depth to her cheekbones and the gentle line of her lips. Her hair is styled in an elegant updo, framing a sharp profile. The bust captures Dame Ethel Mary Smyth—composer, writer, and suffragette who studied music in Germany. She became a Dame in 1922, wrote the opera *The Wreckers* (1906) and the battle hymn “The March of the Women.” You can read her own words below: “I want women to turn their minds to big and difficult jobs; not just to go on hugging the shore, afraid to put out to sea.” It measures 668 mm by 440 mm.
See it in person
Dame Ethel Mary Smyth 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.
