London will be reviving the famous Bartholomew Fair The fair that marked the beginning of Sarah Biffin's career
August 30, 2023
Tomorrow, London will be reviving the famous Bartholomew Fair. This rowdy and crowded fair was held in London's Smithfield area every year from the 12th to the 19th century and it is where Sarah Biffin (1784-1850) began her artistic career at the age of twenty when a man named Mr. Dukes offered her employment as part of a travelling act.
Biffin was presented as “the greatest wonder” and, using her mouth and shoulder, she would sew, write, and paint watercolours and portrait miniatures in front of audiences who would receive a sample of her writing in the cost of their ticket.
In her mid-twenties she began formal tuition with a miniature painter and from 1816 she set herself up as an independent artist, taking commissions from nobility and royalty, and raising to fame as a professional portrait painter.
Find out more about the Bartholomew Fair programme of the City of London's website.
