Images: Manchester Art Gallery.

• TItle: The Artist’s Mother (Manchester Art Gallery).
• Description: “Frontal portrait of the artist’s elderly mother seated with her hands clasped in front of her, offset slightly to the right. She is wearing a pale dress and a black lace scarf round her head, pinned with a brooch. This suggests the mother was in mourning. The dress is painted in dark cream with many varying folds and textures represented by the pronounced brushwork. The women looks ditectly at the viewer and there is a dark neutral background” (Manchester Art Gallery).
• Media: oil on canvas (Manchester Art Gallery).
• Dimensions: “framed: 13 cm (depth); 114.6 cm (height); 97 cm (width) / unframed: 91.3 cm (height); 73.7 cm (width)” (Manchester Art Gallery).
• Signature/date/other text: “artist’s inscription : : trc : dedication, artist’s name : Dear Mamma / S. Isabel Dacre” (Manchester Art Gallery).
• History:
  • c. 1880-1888 – “1880-1888 / The Artist’s Mother / gift from the artist, 1932“, inscribed “Dear Mamma / S. Isabel Dacre” [artuk.org].
  • 1893 – Exhibited Royal Academy, no. 157 [1]; Exhibited Liverpool Art Gallery [1].
  • 1894 – Exhibited Manchester Museum and Oldham Art Gallery, “A conscientious and impressive study of humble life which is undoubtedly one of her best works”, valued at £315 [1].
  • 1898 – Exhibited “at her studio at 10 South King Street in Manchester … remarkable for its rich colour and powerful modeling [1].
  • 1907 – Exhibited “at The Rochdale Gallery … perhaps the best painting, other than a landscape, in the gallery. A large canvas which has dignity, observation, and genuine feeling and is thoroughly well painted. It is worthy of a permanent place in some great municipal gallery [1].
  • 1932 – Gift from the artist [to Manchester Art Gallery] (artuk.org).
  • 1938 May – Exhibited Manchester Art Gallery, “Manchester in Nineteenth Century Pictures and Records” (Manchester Art Gallery).
• Location: Manchester Art Gallery.

The subject is Isabel Dacre’s mother, Susan Wyatt/Dacre/Race. She was born about 1816 at Clifton, Somerset, England, the daughter of John Wyatt, ‘a Gentleman’. With William Dacre she had five children including Susan, the artist. No record has been found as to the birth or death of this William Dacre, a traveller. Susan (senior) died 1898, Manchester, of “senile decay” [1].

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[1] Special thanks to Mike Stewart for information on this work.

Page last updated 4 Mar 2026.