Florence Nightingale is an iconic figure, and as a founder of modern nursing, is revered across the world. She is depicted on various postage stamps, bank notes, and many other memorabilia. One of her iconic image is of a “lady with a lamp”, where she is seen holding a genie-lamp in a dark room, with sick and injured soldiers lying in their beds.
Her Life before the Lamp
Born on 12th May 1820 in a wealthy English family, she was named after the city (Florence, Italy) where she was born in. Unlike most women in her times, she received good education, refused to get married, and wanted to have a real purpose in life. Against the wishes of her family, she enrolled as a student nurse at the Lutheran Hospital in Germany, when she was 24. After her education in philosophy, training in nursing, and travels across Europe and Egypt, she was back in England in care of the sick in the year 1853.
Florence Nightingale was 34, when in 1854 she and a group of 38 nurses from England volunteered to go to Crimea, where British troops in war had allied with the French, Sardinian and Ottomans against the Russians. It is here, this group organized nursing care, focused on hygiene in hospital wards, and took care of the sick and injured. Florence gained fame for her work, as she would take rounds of the hospital wards at night, with a lamp in her hand. This was to supervise and provide care when all others were done with their day’s work.
The misplaced Lamp
In 1850s, written news print media was getting supplemented by illustrations and photographs. This print media revolution led many a war illustrators to visit and report from the Crimean war theater. On 24th February 1855, a drawing showing Florence nightingale appeared in the Illustrated London Weekly. This figure created a myth of a genie type lamp, and accompanied by a description:
She is a ‘ministering angel’ without any exaggeration in these hospitals, and as her slender form glides quietly along each corridor, every poor fellow’s face softens with gratitude at the sight of her. When all the medical officers have retired for the night and silence and darkness have settled down upon those miles of prostrate sick, she may be observed alone, with a little lamp in her hand, making her solitary rounds.
The fact is that Florence, never used the genie type lamp, which carried her name. In fact she used a different type of a Turkish fanoos lantern (Candle lamp). This lamp is placed in one of the artifacts in London’s Nightingale Museum.
Real Lamp in postage stamps…
But the mystic genie lamp image was so powerful, that it was then shown again and again. There are numerous paintings that depicted Florence with it. This romantic image became a metaphor for the ideal of Christian womanhood and resonated with the public. Lighting a lamp in darkness was also a powerful expression of change.
Some philately material has probably tried to correct it. Examples include a 1955 postage stamp from Australia, and more recently a miniature sheet from Portugal, issued in 2020.
Drawn portraits from early years
Despite all the attention, Florence nightingale was camera and portrait shy. There are only a handful photographs, that really captured her. Most paintings she was depicted in, were more of an artists imagination. While she was at Crimea, she was depicted by some drawn portraits. This included one by her sister Partenope, showing a young Florence with her tiny pet owl, Athena.
Jerry Barrett, an artist visited Crimea after the war was over in 1856. As Florence was still in Crimea, Barrett tried to convince her for a portrait. This was something which was met with repeated refusals. Barrett ended up with only a few sketches, drawn from a distance. Florence returned back to England later that year, and consciously avoided a public reception. She did not want “a spectacle to be made of her”.
Only a couple of Iconic pictures
Her 1858 photograph (clicked by Claudius Erskine Goodman) is the one, which is widely used across postage stamps.
Two other iconic iconic images of Florence, were clicked by portraitist William Edward Kilburn around 1860. One showing her seated, looking down, and the other one standing next to an ornate plinth, looking to her right. The second one, with Florence looking to her right is another popular one used in postage stamps.
Florence is wearing the same white cap and the same collar in these photographs. Her grey dress is also quite similar. These two photographs, and sketches drawn from these, have dominated all depictions. Florence continued to contribute to growth of nursing across the world. She in-fact trained many leaders under her, who carried forward her legacy across the world. At the same time, she stayed away from public glare. Her other photographs or portraits are from 1907-08 and 1910, years before her death. She received an order of merit from King Edward in 1908, when she was 88.
History does not always need pictures
There are also some sculptures on Florence Nightingale, which along with her belongings are kept in a Museum in London, England. In those days artists created her image, something which artificial intelligence does in the current era.
History may not always be dead accurate. Nightingale’s lamp is one such story. Print media in 1850s created an image, that has remained well accepted decades later. However, it is your work that will speak more, and not what you may look like. Probably, this singular philosophy made Florence Nightingale work and inspire, with only a handful of pictures. Today every one wants to be “in the picture”. Hence, it is hard to imagine to have someone who successfully avoided the media glare. Florence Nightingale is a global icon for nursing and humanity. She is better known for her work, regardless of type of lamp she may have used.