Grace Darling

Description

An original 30″ x 24″ oil painting of 19th Century heroine Grace Darling. My portrait attempts to capture the individual, sensitive, yet courageous character of this 19th century heroine. The painting is not for sale until after the exhibition. Details of the exhibition will follow later in 2023.

Please contact me here for details of how to commission an original portrait.

The story of Grace Darling

In the early 19th century, the ‘paparazzi’ of the day were artists. And in celebrating Grace’s exploits with a portrait, they dressed her in fine clothes, hair and ‘make-up’. Surely not how she would have looked in reality!  She lived a tough, frugal life with her father in the Longstone Lighthouse  on the edge of the Farne Islands off the coast of Northumberland. Evenings would be spent between watches, crocheting or reading by candlelight whilst many a storm raged outside. I chose to give her this more ‘authentic’ look, dressing her in plain clothes and wearing a crocheted shawl. Perhaps she may have styled her hair somewhat, but the wearing of bonnets and other finery would have been unrealistic.

Grace Darling became a national heroine after risking her life to save the stranded survivors of the wrecked steamship Forfarshire in 1838.

Grace Darling was one of the Victorian era’s most celebrated heroines. On 7 September 1838, she risked her life to rescue the stranded survivors of the wrecked steamship Forfarshire, a feat of bravery which changed her life dramatically.

Grace spotted the ship from her bedroom window as it was shattered by the perilous rock known as the Big Harcar, splitting the vessel in two. The lifeboat from Seahouses (a long rowing boat) would take too long to get to the wreck, so Grace and her father rowed out themselves. Making two trips of over a mile, they managed to save the lives of nine people clinging to the rocks in the ferocious storm. A further nine survived though 48 perished.

Her extraordinary act of bravery became internationally known, making front page news and even reaching Queen Victoria. Both Grace and her father were awarded medals for their bravery.

The sad fact was, in the end, she suffered greatly from the clamour of the ‘media’ and at one point, the Duke of Northumberland took her into Alnwick Castle to protect her from the attention she was getting.

Her father William Darling wrote at the time:

“You can hardly form an idea how disagreeable it is to my daughter to show herself in public, I believe very much from being brought up in such a retired situation …you cannot believe how much she has been annoyed by it all.”   William Darling

The pressures of fame and her unwanted status as the first media celebrity of the Victorian age proved too much for Grace; she became ill and very weak. Her family thought the bracing sea air of Longstone was not helping her. In September she was sent to Wooler to stay with friends, and enjoyed a short time there. This saw her improve a little and even ride a pony into the Cheviot Hills, but it was only temporary. It was decided to move her away from the pure air of Wooler, and return her to Alnwick, to her cousins’ airless and confined premises in Narrowgate.

On the evening of Thursday 20 October 1842, Grace asked to be raised from her pillow and died in her father’s arms at 8.15pm. She was 26. Tuberculosis was recorded as the cause of death.

The Grace Darling museum in Bamburgh tells her full story and she is buried in the village churchyard nearby.