The portrait

Emma Aloysia Novello’s Portrait of Richard Cobden

A focused study of the 1861 portrait of the politician Richard Cobden by the artist Emma Aloysia Novello, supported by an Understanding British Portraits Fellowship in 2024.

The portrait

Emma Aloysia Novello painted an oil sketch of the politician Richard Cobden in Paris during May 1861, following his negotiation of what would become known as the Cobden–Chevalier Treaty. It was presented to the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds in 1953.

BC MS NCC/20/297 Emma Novello to (Joseph) Alfred Novello 17 August 1870 1

The lost second portrait

Emma Novello's correspondence with her brother, (Joseph) Alfred Novello, reveals the existence of a second untraced portrait of Richard Cobden painted from memory, exhibited in 1868 and 1869; although praised by strangers, her attempts to sell it to Alfred for £25 were rejected due to his dissatisfaction with the likeness, possession of other portraits of Cobden and concerns about Emma's intended use of the money for travel to Paris and Rome.

BC MS NCC/9/1/64 Sketch of Clara Novello by Edward Petre Novello

Richard Cobden and the Novellos

Richard Cobden's connections with the Novello family contributed to the repeal of 'Taxes on Knowledge' following Cobden's successful negotiation of the Cobden–Chevalier Treaty, a free trade agreement between England and France that improved European relations.

BC MS NCC/10/4/1 untitled oil sketch [portrait of Emma Aloysia Novello by Henry Sass]

Emma Novello’s early life and education

Emma Aloysia Novello studied at an Augustinian convent school in Belgium before beginning her art education at John Henry Sass's drawing academy in London. She was prevented from continuing her training at the Royal Academy Schools because they did not yet admit women as students.

Emma Novello’s artistic practice

Emma Novello's artistic practice was most visible in public between 1859 and 1869, through participation in temporary exhibitions and involvement in advocating for women's admission to the Royal Academy Schools.

BC MS NCC/10/3/1 Copy of Notice of Admission 1

Emma Novello’s later life

Emma Novello was diagnosed with 'melancholic mania' due to caring responsibilities for an elderly aunt and was institutionalised by her older brother (Joseph) Alfred Novello, spending two decades at Otto House Lunatic Asylum until her death in 1902.

Emma Novello in context

Emma Novello's pursuit of an artistic career, supported by her family's cultural connections and financial stability, challenged social norms and gender restrictions of her time, despite the institutional barriers and economic dependencies she faced as a woman artist in mid-nineteenth-century Britain.

Bibliography

A bibliography related to research on the artist Emma Novello, the politician Richard Cobden and the social, political, economic and cultural conditions in which they lived and worked.

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The artist Emma Aloysia Novello painted this oil sketch of the politician Richard Cobden in Paris, most likely between 6 and 16 May 1861. She visited Cobden and his wife at their home in the French capital, but he was too busy for an extended sitting as a result of his activities following the successful negotiation of what would become known as the Cobden–Chevalier Treaty of 1860. To accommodate his schedule, Novello painted Cobden while he worked, using tones of raw umber and white to define his features.

Novello completed the oil sketch from an existing photograph of Cobden and the grid that remains visible on the surface of the canvas reveals the process of enlarging and transcribing the figure. The National Portrait Gallery holds a carbon print of Cobden with the same pose and clothing, presented by one of the same donors as the Novello Cowden Clarke Collection, so there is a strong likelihood that it was the same visual aid used by Emma.

In addition to the use of photography as an artistic tool, Novello recorded that the French artist Pierre-Désiré Guillemet assisted and advised her in the preparation of this portrait and also that her ‘talented friend’, the artist Ann Mary Newton (née Severn), added some brushstrokes to the hair in 1864. These collaborative strategies demonstrate Novello’s navigation through a network of Anglo-European art making that still privileged the work of men and marginalised the work of women.

Emma offered to sell the portrait to her brother, the music publisher (Joseph) Alfred Novello, in 1866. In reply he wrote: ‘I did not find any resemblance to Mr Cobden in the painting you showed me, and I did not wish to have it’. The picture was instead purchased by her sister Mary Cowden Clarke and her husband Charles in the same year, after which it was displayed in the picture gallery of their home, Villa Novello in Genoa, which they shared with her brother Alfred and sister (Mary) Sabilla Novello. The picture hung alongside portraits of figures from the Risorgimento (Unification of Italy) and work by their late brother Edward Petre Novello. It came to Leeds in 1953 as part of the donation of the Novello Cowden Clarke Collection by Emma’s great nieces Nerina Medici di Marignano Gigliucci and Bona Sabilla Gigliucci.