Albert Charles Challen (8 October 1847 in Islington – 1 September 1881 in Camberwell) was a British artist. He is best known as the painter of a portrait of

Mary Seacole Mary Jane Seacole (;Anionwu E.N. (2012) Mary Seacole: nursing care in many lands. ''British Journal of Healthcare Assistants'' 6(5), 244–248. 23 November 1805 – 14 May 1881) was a British-Jamaican nurse and businesswoman who set up t ...

in 1869, when she was around 65 years old and he was 22. The rediscovery of the portrait was announced in January 2005, and it is held by the National Portrait Gallery. Born in Islington, the 1871 UK census shows Challen living in Hammersmith, with his profession given as "art student (painting)". By the 1881 census, he was living in Camberwell, and was a "practising artist". Based on this evidence, historian

Helen Rappaport Helen F. Rappaport (née Ware; born June 1947), is a British author and former actress. She specialises in the Victorian era and revolutionary Russia. Early life and education Rappaport was born Helen Ware in Bromley, grew up near the River Med ...

theorised that the Seacole portrait (which she had discovered) may been an practice project for Challen, or done before he had attended art school; suggesting that the artist and subject may have personally known one another. Challen died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

at the age of 33 on 1 September 1881 in Camberwell, Surrey. His niece, Florence Mildred Saltmarsh Challen, was married to the organist and composer Henry Thomas Pringuer.

References

1847 births 1881 deaths People from Islington (district) 19th-century British painters British male painters 19th-century British male artists {{UK-painter-19thC-stub