Florence Nightingale by Henry Hering, late 1856-1857
Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) reformed hospital nursing during the 19th Century. She trained as a sick nurse and was invited to take nurses out to tend the wounded in the Crimean War (1854). She travelled to Scutari, a suburb of Constantinople, where she transformed the appalling conditions at the Barrack Hospital and laid the foundations for lasting reforms in nursing care. Her campaign on behalf of the sick and wounded British soldiers was one of the great achievements. Within months she was described in the British press as a ‘ministering angel’ and demands were made for her likeness. She was subsequently consulted by foreign governments at war as an authority on hospital administration and sanitation.
source: National Portrait Gallery
