Frances Sally Day facts for kids

Frances Sally Day (born 1815, died 1892) was a talented English artist from London. She was known for painting small, detailed portraits called miniatures. She also became a photographer. For twenty years, her paintings were shown every year at the famous Royal Academy of Arts. What's really cool is that she was the first woman known to take a photograph of Queen Victoria!

A Life of Art and Family

Frances Sally Day was born on September 15, 1815. Her father, Hamilton Smith Day, was also a portrait painter and photographer, so art ran in the family!

From 1838 to 1858, Frances had more than forty of her portraits and miniatures accepted for display at the Royal Academy of Arts exhibitions. This was a big achievement! One of her famous portraits was of Sheikh Ali Bin Nasser, who was an important visitor from Muscat (a country now called Oman). He had sent many gifts to the Queen. Another one of her portraits was praised for how well she painted skin tones. In 1840, Frances won a special award called the Silver Isis Medal from the Royal Society of Arts for a "portrait bust" (a sculpture showing someone's head and shoulders).

For many years, Frances and her father shared the same address for their art business. Later, she lived with her sisters, brother, and nephew, who were all artists too. This shows how much art was a part of their family life.

Capturing Royalty with a Camera

This photograph of Feodore, Princess Hohenlohe-Langenburg was taken by Frances Sally Day at Osborne House around 1859.

Frances Sally Day started taking photographs by 1853. She even wrote to a very important early photographer, Henry Fox Talbot, to ask about getting a license to take photos. This shows she was serious about her new skill!

In the late 1850s, Frances took several photographs of members of the royal family. A special moment happened on July 26, 1859, at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Queen Victoria wrote in her diary that day, "was photographed in the Lower Terrace by Miss Day and together with Mama and the children." This was a historic event because Frances Sally Day was the very first woman to photograph the Queen!

Some of Frances's royal photographs were sent to other royal family members in different countries. Many of these were small photos called cartes de visite, which were popular at the time. Ten of her photos were even put into a special royal photograph album. Some of her pictures were also copied and turned into etchings (a type of print).

Frances Sally Day passed away on January 12, 1892.