Sarah Biffen

Sarah Biffen (1784 – 2 October 1850), also known as Biffin, Beffin, or by her married name Mrs E.M. Wright, was a Victorian English painter born with no arms and only vestigial legs. She was 94 cm (37 in) tall. She was born in 1784 in Somerset. Despite her handicap she learned to read, write and paint using her mouth. She was apprenticed to a man named Dukes who exhibited her as an attraction throughout England. In the St. Bartholomew's Fair of 1808, she came to the attention of George Douglas, the Earl of Morton who then went on to sponsor her to receive lessons from a Royal Academy of Arts painter, William Craig. The Society of Arts awarded her a medal in 1821 for a historical miniature and the Royal Academy accepted her paintings. The Royal Family commissioned her to paint miniature portraits of them. When the Earl of Morton died in 1827, Biffen was left without a noble sponsor and she ran into financial trouble. Queen Victoria awarded her a Civil List pension and she retired to a private life in Liverpool. Some years later she married and 12 years later tried to renew her success with the name Mrs. Wright but this was not successful. She died on 2 October 1850 at the age of 66.

In series 4, episode 22, a miniature by Sarah Biffen was restored by Lucia Scalisi and paper conservator Louise Drover.