1730–1804Penelope Carwardine
The eldest of six daughters, Penelope took up miniature painting to save her family from financial ruin. Penelope’s father, John Carwardine of Thinghills Court, in Herefordshire, ‘ruined the family estates’ by frivolously spending their money.
Carwardine was part of the ‘modest school’ of portrait miniaturists and had parity of esteem with her contemporaries. In Mortimer’s Universal Director, published in London in 1763 (the ‘Yellow Pages’ for traders), ‘Mrs Carwardine’ was listed as one of twenty-four miniature artists. Only two were women, and Carwardine is listed alongside Richard Cosway, Samuel Cotes, Richard Cross and John Smart. Although Carwardine had some training from Ozias Humphry later in her career, the earliest dated work by Carwardine is 1753, so she began practicing miniature painting before Humphry.
As with many of our female artists, when Carwardine married, she gave up painting commercially.