Harriet Martineau
Artist: Richard Evans (English, 1784-1871)
Date: Exhibited 1834
Medium: Oil on canvas
Collection: National Portrait Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Harriet Martineau (1802-1876), Social philosopher and writer.
An influential and determined author, Harriet Martineau specialized in political economy, education, sociology and other topics that were, at the time, usually considered inappropriate for women to explore. Martineau was one of a number of women who campaigned for the abolition of slavery in Britain and across the world. After a visit to America in 1834, she wrote an article highlighting the horrors of slavery there. Among her many other works of theory, fact and fiction, she also wrote The Hour and the Man, a ‘historical romance’ about Toussaint L’Ouverture, the leader of the Haitian Revolution.