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Sarah Biffin has become a familiar name at Philip Mould & Company. Over years of dedicated research, we have seen her work capture modern audiences anew, with this growing recognition marked by acquisitions from international public collections including the Baltimore Museum of Art and London’s National Portrait Gallery. From 3rd February 2026, our most important work by Biffin, A Study of Feathers, will be on loan to the Paul Mellon Centre as part of their exhibition Misfits: Disability as Method through Objects.
Biffin’s artistic career began under unconventional circumstances. She made her name as an artist by drawing in front of audiences at travelling fairs across Britain. Born without arms, she taught herself to sew, write and paint using her mouth and shoulder.
This Study of Feathers is among Biffin’s earliest works, and the best-preserved example of her work in this genre. All recorded feather studies by the artist date to 1811-1812, during her touring career that unfolded over fifteen years, between 1804 and 1819. Moving from fair to fair across the country, she pursued a relentlessly itinerant lifestyle that brought her to towns and cities in every corner of Great Britain. Her arrivals were frequently accompanied by public advertisements, which announced her presence and bolstered her reputation. Within this context, feathers would have been an especially apt subject: visually complex and technically demanding, yet lightweight, readily available, and well suited to the portable format of her work on paper.
