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The story of Sarah Biffin, the record-breaking Victorian artist born without arms or legs
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, depicts her in an advertisement at St Bartholomew's fair in London, where she performed alongside prize-fighters, musicians, wire-walkers, acrobats, puppets, and wild animals. It was here, the following year, that she was introduced to William, 16th Earl of Morton, which led to artistic training, aristocratic and Royal patronage and, ultimately, the acknowledgment of the Society of Arts and the Royal Academy. In spite of her disabilities – and the fact she was a woman – Biffin achieved considerable recognition.
