Portrait of Jane Powell, the artist's mother

Jane Frith (née Powell) was born in 1779 in the Shropshire village of Fitz. One of her grandfathers was the landowning local squire and the other a clergyman, but her father squandered the family fortune, according to Frith's account. It is not known how she met Frith's father, who came from a Nottinghamshire inn-keeping background and was House Steward at Studley Royal when Frith was born. Though sternly religious and (according to her son) without any sense of humour, Jane was a loving parent and supported Frith during the early years when he earned little or nothing from painting. She died in November 1851 after years of suffering from painful rheumatic gout.

Frith made the original portrait in 1840, but this version, is one of several later replicas he gave to his children.

We are grateful to Mark Bills for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry. Please note that this work will appear in his forthcoming catalogue raisonné and monograph of William Powell Frith.