Daphne Park Henry Mee, (1955-) Date: 2009 Medium: Oil on canvas Donor: The artist in 2009 About the sitter Daphne Park (1921–2010); Principal 1980–89. Came to Somerville in 1940 to read French. Worked for the SOE in WWII; eventually became a senior MI6 controller in Hanoi, Moscow, the Congo and Zambia. She achieved the rank of Controller Western Hemisphere in… Read More »Daphne Park
[Need image] Vera Farnell Hubert Andrew Freeth, (1912–1986) Date: 1951 Medium: Chalk Donor: By subscription in 1952 About the sitter Vera Farnell originally studied French at Somerville (1911–14). She later became Tutor in English and French. She held many College offices during her long association with Somerville, including that of Principal’s Secretary under Emily Penrose, later becoming Librarian, and Somerville’s… Read More »Vera Farnell
[Need image] Hilda Lockhart Lorimer James Arden Grant, (1887–1973) Date: 1958 Medium: Chalk Donor: Vera Brittain About the sitter Vera Brittain described Miss Lorimer as ‘one of the most brilliantly eccentric of women dons.’ A Scot who came to Somerville from Girton, Cambridge in 1896, she was a classicist and keen ornithologist. Principal’s Secretary Hilda Bryant recollected: ‘Miss Lorimer often… Read More »Hilda Lockhart Lorimer
Go up the wooden stairs to your left (if you are standing looking at the bust). The next few artworks are on the stairwell walls, so take care as you stand to view them!
Mary Somerville in classical attire Lawrence MacDonald (1799–1878) Date: 1844 Medium: Marble Donor: Major Fairfax-Lucy, 1961 Made in Rome in 1844, this work follows the classicising trend of sculpture at the time: the treatment was very smooth and subjects were depicted wearing classical garments including togas or laurel wreaths. Jacob Epstein’s 1932 First Portrait of Louise near the dining hall… Read More »Mary Somerville, 1844
Self-portrait, seated in an armchair writing Mary Somerville, ‘with the help of the engraver, Mr Dick.’ Date: Unknown Medium: Oil on panel Donor: Lt Col J Ramsay Fairfax, 1958 Mary Somerville attended the Edinburgh academy of painter Alexander Nasmyth, which he had opened to ladies. With interests in architecture and engineering as well as portrait and landscape painting, Nasmyth placed… Read More »Self-portrait
Head into House via the door under the archway. Look immediately to your left for the next artwork on the tour.
Standing at the noticeboard in the main quad, look towards the Radcliffe Observatory (Grade I listed). To the left is the Stephen A Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, opened at the end of 2025. The development of the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter puts College in a newly strategic position in relation to the University – quite the opposite of how Somerville… Read More »House
Find the college map at the end of the main quad, and stand with it to your left, so you are facing the Radcliffe Observatory, looking out through the gates.
Percy Withers (1867-1945) was a doctor, aspiring author and friend to some of the most renowned writers and artists of the interwar period. Born in Sale in Cheshire, his father (who died in 1897) had been in the silk trade. Two of Percy’s older brothers were general practitioners and he too went into medicine but he had literary aspirations, publishing his first volume of poetry in 1894. In 1896 he married… Read More »Percy Withers Collection