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Primary sourcePaintingc. 1840

Watercolour Portrait of Ada Lovelace

Alfred Edward Chalon · c. 1840

A watercolour portrait of Ada Lovelace made around 1840, possibly by Alfred Edward Chalon, widely used as her best-known image.

This portrait, made during the period of her mathematical work, is the best-known image of Lovelace herself.

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Watercolour portrait of a young woman with dark hair in side ringlets and a headdress of dark flowers and a yellow blossom. She wears a black lace shawl over a lilac dress with a gold fan and white gloves, against a grey-brown background.
Attributed to Alfred Edward Chalon, watercolour portrait of Ada Lovelace, c. 1840.

About this source

What it is

This small watercolour portrait shows a young woman believed to be Ada Lovelace, possibly painted by the artist Alfred Edward Chalon around 1840.

Why it matters

Painted around the time Lovelace was doing her mathematical work with Charles Babbage, this image became the most widely reproduced likeness of her and the source for many later depictions in books and articles about her life.

Look closer

  • What details of clothing and setting suggest the social status of the sitter?
  • Why might this image, rather than a photograph, have become the most familiar picture of Lovelace?
  • What does a portrait like this tell us, and what does it leave out, about Lovelace's intellectual work?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Ada Lovelace on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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