Art UK has updated its cookies policy. By using this website you are agreeing to the use of cookies. To find out more read our updated Use of Cookies policy and our updated Privacy policy.

Edward Jenner

Image credit: National Portrait Gallery, London

How you can use this image

This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).

Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.

The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.

Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.

Notes

Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.

A West Country surgeon, Jenner discovered vaccination against smallpox after testing the country lore that dairymaids, exposed to the mild cowpox virus, did not contract the killer disease. He published his findings in 1798, but it took ten years for the government to accept his discovery. Jenner campaigned vigorously, even encouraging the fashionable 'cowherd' poet Robert Bloomfield to write Good Tidings; or, News From the Farm (1804) to promote vaccination. By 1853 vaccination was compulsory in Britain and Jenner was posthumously considered a national hero.
The background of this painting was not finished until after Jenner's death in 1823 when Northcote wrote: 'on a table in the picture I have introduced the bones and joints of a Cows hoof and in a glass case the Cows hoof injected, all which is to show what were his peculiar Studies'.

National Portrait Gallery, London

London

Title

Edward Jenner

Date

1803, 1823

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 127 x W 101.6 cm

Accession number

62

Acquisition method

Given by the sitter's friend, James Moore (later Carrick-Moore), 1859

Work type

Painting

Tags

See a tag that’s incorrect or offensive? Challenge it and notify Art UK.

Help improve Art UK. Tag artworks and verify existing tags by joining the Tagger community.

Normally on display at

National Portrait Gallery, London

St Martin’s Place, London, Greater London WC2H 0HE England

This venue is open to the public. Not all artworks are on display. If you want to see a particular artwork, please contact the venue.
View venue