Hannah Tatum Smith (née Whitall)
- Artist: Lombardi & Co
- Date: circa 1873
- Medium: albumen carte-de-visite
- Dimensions: 4 1/8 in. x 2 1/2 in. (105 mm x 64 mm) overall
- Portrays: Hannah Tatum Smith (née Whitall)
- Museum: The National Portrait Gallery
- Collection record: The National Portrait Gallery website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is “Hannah Tatum Smith (née Whitall).” You’re looking at a tiny albumen carte‑de‑visite, the small photographic card that was popular in the 1870s. The image shows her head and shoulders framed within an almost square frame – just over four inches tall by two and a half inches wide.
The photograph was made by Lombardi & Co., the New York studio known for albumen prints on card stock, so the detail is crisp but soft, like early daguerreotypes. Notice how her hair is swept back in that relaxed Victorian style; a subtle hat brim peeks from the left. Her expression is calm, almost serene.
In 1873 she crossed the Atlantic with her husband and settled in England. She gave lectures on Christian life, helped found the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, and in 1875 published her bestselling book “The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life.” By the time this card was produced, she was already speaking at suffrage conventions and fighting for women’s access to universities.
Her daughter, the art historian Mary Berenson, would later follow in her footsteps. This little portrait captures a moment when her journey from Philadelphia to London was just beginning – an early visual snapshot of a woman who bridged continents and causes.
See it in person
Hannah Tatum Smith (née Whitall) 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.
