Joseph Allen (1770-1839)
Mary Evans, Mrs Fryer Todd (1770-1843)
c.1798-9
oil on canvas
Mary Evans was the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge's first love. He fell in love with her in 1791 while spending his school holidays with her family, but failed to declare his feelings. While touring Wales in 1794, shortly after Mary's engagement to Fryer Todd, he glimpsed her as she left a church in Wrexham, where she was visiting her grandmother. He later recalled, 'I turned sick and all but fainted away. Her image is in the sanctuary of my heart and never can it be torn away'. On her marriage, Coleridge dedicated his poem The Sigh to her.
The artist Joseph Allen trained in the Royal Academy Schools, working mostly in Liverpool and Manchester. He worked in Wrexham from 1798 to 1799, when he probably painted this portrait of Mary. He was patronised by several Welsh families including the Williams Wynns.
Purchased, 1991
NMW A 556