Anne Lister

Oval quarter length portrait miniature in a locket depicting Anne Lister of Shibden Hall, Halifax, presented in profile.

Anne Lister was born on the 3rd April 1791. In 1815 Anne moved in permanently with her Aunt and Uncle at Shibden Hall Estate in Halifax, and when her Uncle James died in 1826 Anne started to manage the estate. Anne wrote a detailed diary of her daily life and left behind twenty-six volumes of 7,722 pages, of an estimated five million words. The diaries give a great insight into Anne’s life as a landowner, business woman, intrepid traveller, mountaineer and lesbian.

The artist, Frédéric Millet (d. 1859), was one of the best pupils of Jean-Baptiste Isabey. He exhibited work at the Paris Salon between 1806 and 1859, including many portraits of the Bonapartes and the French royal family.

The miniature is signed and dated on the left: Millet 1834.