Artist: Penelope Carwardine · about 1760Portrait of a Lady
If you look closely at the edge of this miniature (at about 5 o’clock if this were a watch dial), you can see a small ‘P C’, the initials of the artist, Penelope Carwardine. As the eldest of six daughters, Carwardine took up miniature painting to save her family from her father’s reckless spending and financial ruin.
Carwardine was part of what has been termed the modest school of portrait miniaturists. Another example of her work can be seen here.
When Carwardine married, she gave up painting. This was true for many of the female artists in our exhibition, who relinquished their craft when they married – whether by personal choice, change in financial circumstances or due to their husbands’ and society’s expectations for married women.
Who is the Sitter?
This miniature is really tiny! It measures only 33 by 28mm, which is about the size of a large grape; painting a portrait this size takes incredible skill and dexterity. It has a thin simple metal frame with a hook on it, suggesting it was designed to be worn, perhaps as a pendant or attached to clothing. In the mid-eighteenth century, it became more fashionable for portrait miniatures to be carried close to the body, serving as intimate, portable objects of remembrance and affection. The ability to commission and wear a miniature also denoted wealth and status, while its function as jewellery implies a personal connection between the wearer and the sitter.
We do not know who the sitter is, however, we can see that she has a pale complexion and wears a blue outfit with delicate lace trim details. The sitter’s expensive clothes and pale skin signifies that she did not work outdoors and lived a life of leisure and was probably very wealthy for the mid-eighteenth century.
Relationship to Power
Carwardine used her artistic skill to gain financial agency, ultimately rescuing her family from ruin. In Thomas Mortimer’s Universal Directory (1763), a guide to London’s skilled tradespeople, Carwardine was listed as ‘Mrs Carwardine, Miniature Painter, Rathbone Place, Soho’ alongside leading male miniaturists, and was regarded as their equal in talent. Yet, as with many female artists in the eighteenth century, when she married a Mr Butler, an organist, in 1763, Carwardine relinquished professional painting, whether by personal choice or due to his and society’s expectations.
A second miniature by Penelope Carwardine
Artist: Penelope Carwardine · about 1760Portrait of a Lady
About the Object
On the reverse of this miniature is a decoratively arranged lock of – presumably – the sitter’s hair. Including hair in portrait miniatures was common practice at this time. It made these objects deeply personal items, as the owner of the portrait miniature not only had a portrait of the sitter to preserve their likeness but a piece of them too. Therefore, this miniature was likely commissioned by or for a close loved one of the sitter.
Although the identity of this sitter is sadly now unknown, she is likely to have had significant social standing. Her pearl jewellery and luxurious clothes with fine lace trim, signal both status and affluence.
Carwardine has signed the work with her initials, ‘P C’, lower right.