The Mission of Mercy - A Discussion with Lucy Bamford and Anne Ishikawa

Audio Discussion between Lucy Bamford (Senior Curator) and Anne Ishikawa (Co-production Volunteer) about the famous The Mission of Mercy: Florence Nightingale receiving the Wounded at Scutari by Jerry Barrett, 1857.

Derby Museums is marking the bicentenary of Florence Nightingale’s birth this year with a number of special exhibits celebrating her life and work, including this rare portrait on loan from the National Portrait Gallery, London as part of the COMING HOME project.

COMING HOME is a project which sees the National Portrait Gallery lend 50 portraits of iconic individuals to places across the UK with which they are most closely associated. These artworks will be available for audiences to see in local museums, galleries and other venues, along with special programming available for families and communities.

The Mission of Mercy, painted by artist Jerry Barrett in 1857 – portrays Florence Nightingale attending wounded soldiers at Scutari, Turkey, during her time there as a nurse during the Crimean War. See an image and more about the painting here.

An English social reformer and statistician, Florence Nightingale is credited as a founder of modern nursing, and came from a wealthy, reformist Derbyshire family who had a home at Lea Hurst near Matlock. This is the first time the painting will be returned to Derbyshire since having been acquired by the National Portrait Gallery in 1993.

Listen to the discussion online, or download to listen on your device - or watch the video for a subtitled and illustrated version.