Mary Fairfax, Mrs William Somerville, 1780 - 1872. Writer on science
About this artwork
Mary Fairfax was the daughter of a naval officer and born in Jedburgh. As was customary for young ladies, she received very little formal education. Yet she taught herself algebra in secret and, as a young wife and mother, she continued to study mathematics. Widowhood at twenty-seven gave her the independence to develop her intellectual interests and her second husband, William Somerville, proved more supportive than her first. Somerville’s particular contribution to nineteenth-century science lay in her powers of analysis and explication rather than original research. She translated Laplace’s The Mechanism of the Heavens into English and wrote a bestselling book on physics. After her death, Somerville College in Oxford was named in her honour.
Updated before 2020
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artist:Thomas Phillips (1770 - 1845) English
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title:Mary Fairfax, Mrs William Somerville, 1780 - 1872. Writer on science
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date created:1834
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materials:Oil on canvas
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measurements:76.20 x 63.50 cm; Framed: 106.70 x 93.50 x 14.00 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased 1929
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accession number:PG 1115
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gallery:
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depicted:
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subject:
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artwork photographed by:Antonia Reeve
Thomas Phillips
Thomas Phillips
The English portrait painter Thomas Phillips is best known for his portrayals of ‘men of genius’. After his apprenticeship with a Birmingham glass engraver, Phillips moved to London in 1790 where he enrolled at the Royal Academy Schools. Despite his initial preference for history painting, he soon...