Fanny Kemble
- Artist: Peter Frederick Rothermel
- Date: 1849
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 15 in. x 12 in. (381 mm x 305 mm) oval
- Portrays: Frances Anne ('Fanny') Kemble
- Museum: The National Portrait Gallery
- Collection record: The National Portrait Gallery website
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About this artwork
Before you is a small oval portrait in oil on canvas by Peter Frederick Rothermel from 1849. The image shows Frances Anne “Fanny” Kemble in profile, her face framed by a modest hat adorned with lace and crochet. Her eyes are focused, reflecting the quiet confidence of an actress who toured Britain’s great theatres before heading to America. In 1832 she first visited that country; two years later she married a wealthy plantation owner in Philadelphia. Witnessing the cotton and tobacco fields of Georgia made her aware of slavery’s brutality, which she would later expose through her writings. Rothermel captured those moments with careful brushwork, the light playing across Kemble’s face and the subtle folds of her attire.
See it in person
Fanny Kemble 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.
