Chapter 1: Bookish Beginnings, 1804-25

Item 4
Maria D'Israeli (d. 1847)
Pencil drawing by Daniel Maclise, R.A., June 1828
Reproduced by permission of Hughenden Manor (The National Trust)

Disraeli's relations with his mother were problematic. Depicting her as the stepmother in his novel, Contarini Fleming (1832), conveys the emotional distance between the two; a striving for maternal affection and approval coloured his adult relationships. Isaac cast his son in a heroic light but Maria's assessment of her elder son's abilities was more pragmatic.