Emma Aloysia Novello’s Portrait of Richard Cobden
Emma Aloysia Novello’s Portrait of Richard Cobden
The portrait
The lost second portrait
Richard Cobden and the Novellos
Emma Novello’s early life and education
Emma Novello’s artistic practice
Emma Novello’s later life
Emma Novello in context
Bibliography
This Research Spotlight focuses on the portrait of the politician Richard Cobden by the artist Emma Aloysia Novello. Painted in Paris in 1861, the portrait materialises the alliance between Cobden and the Novello family that contributed to the Paper Duty Repeal Bill; part of the ultimately successful campaign against ‘Taxes on Knowledge’. Her brother (Joseph) Alfred Novello’s role in the Society for the Repeal of the Taxes on Knowledge is represented in the existing literature but Emma’s involvement has not been examined, despite her also having met and corresponded with Cobden. Her reputation has also been obscured by the artistic potential and early death of her brother Edward Petre Novello and her status as an unmarried woman.
The purpose of this research is to recover Emma Novello’s agency as an artist and make visible her significance to histories of British portraiture and politics. By engaging in a close study of her portrait of Cobden in the context of the wider Novello Cowden Clarke Collection, we can attend to the relevance of her artistic and political legacy and understand her contribution to nineteenth-century culture.
This project was supported by an Understanding British Portraits Fellowship in 2024.
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