{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1067833"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1067833/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2024NU4381/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2024NU4381/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2024NU4381","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JX8649","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1067833","accessionNumber":"P.16-1931","objectType":"Portrait miniature","titles":[{"title":"Portrait of an unknown woman (possibly the Countess of Stamford)","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This portrait miniature of a woman yet to be identified in a pink dress, wearing a string of pearls around her neck and in her hair, was painted by Penelope Carwardine (1730-1804), a female miniaturist in eighteenth-century England. Carwardine likely learned to paint from her mother, Anne Bullock. She turned to miniature painting as a source of income to support her family financially. Carwardine was close friends with Joshua Reynolds and his sister Frances, and she exhibited at the Incorporated Society of Artists in 1771 and 1772 (earlier entries may refer to either her sister-in-law or her mother, who also painted miniatures). This miniature is typical of Carwardine’s distinctive painting style, which often featured pale, blue-toned sitters with elongated faces turned on a slight angle. It is signed ‘P.C 1759’.","physicalDescription":"Portrait miniature of an unknown woman in a pink dress, initialled and dated in the lower right by the artist, set in a black shagreen case lined with green velvet and a gilt metal scalloped oval rim.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Penelope Carwardine","id":"A9777"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":"Penelope Carwardine (married name Butler, 1729-1804), was a miniature painter in eighteenth-century London. She was born at Withington, Herefordshire, the daughter of John Carwardine and Anne Bullock, who was also a miniature painter. It is likely Carwardine was taught the art by her mother. She turned to miniature painting as a source of income after her father left the family destitute; by 1754, she had an established practice in London. She exhibited at the Incorporated Society of Artists in 1771 and 1771 (earlier entries in 1761 and 1762 may refer to her sister-in-law or her mother). In 1763, a Mrs Carwardine (unclear which one) is listed as an artist in Thomas Mortimer’s Universal Director. \r\n\r\nCarwardine married James Butler on 26 May 1763 and took on his name. She was also close friends with Joshua Reynolds and his sister Frances. Reynolds wrote of Carwardine’s relation to Ozias Humphry, who painted her portrait and may have instructed her: \r\n\r\n‘she may well at this time, or earlier, have sought to improve her style from him … he did not guide her earliest work … [this] shows the formality of the Lens manner mingling with the greater interest in character and humanity of the newer fashion.’ (112)\r\n\r\nShe died in October 1804 in Hereford. \r\n\r\nHer miniatures are rarely fully signed, thus leading to confusion about the attribution of her works. Miniatures with the initials ‘PC’ have often been attributed to Carwardine. Her style is distinctive, characterised by long faces in blue-toned palettes, women donning various hair decorations, and faces turned on a slight angle. Other miniatures by Carwardine exist in the collections of Kenwood House, the Wallace, MFA Houston, and the Swedish National Museum. "},{"name":{"text":"Penelope Cotes","id":"AUTH318957"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":"possibly"}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ivory","id":"AAT11857"},{"text":"watercolour","id":"x33202"}],"techniques":[{"text":"watercolour painting (technique)","id":"THES250889"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour on ivory","categories":[{"text":"Portraits","id":"THES48906"},{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"},{"text":"Miniatures","id":"THES269968"},{"text":"Woman Artist","id":"THES387590"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2024NU4381","2017JX8649"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLF","id":"THES49656"},"free":"","case":"RMC","shelf":"2","box":"B"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"miniature (painting)","id":"AAT33936"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1759","earliest":"1759-01-01","latest":"1759-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"4.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"3.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"P.C 1759","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Initialled and dated on spectator's bottom right."}],"objectHistory":"This miniature was previously in the collection of the Earl of Stamford, and was likely lent to the museum in 1862 for an exhibition. ","historicalContext":"Portrait miniatures were frequently exchanged between loved ones and family in eighteenth-century England as tokens of affection and remembrance. Although the sitter for this miniature is yet to be identified, it likely served a similar purpose.","briefDescription":"Portrait Miniature, Unknown Woman (possibly the Countess of Stamford), by Penelope Carwardine, watercolour on ivory, 1759.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<i>Summary Catalogue of Miniatures in the Victoria and Albert Museum</i>, Emmett Microform, 1981"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<i>European Miniatures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art</i>, p. 130."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"D. Foskett, 'The Modest Miniatures of Penelope Carwardine,' <i>The Antique Collector</i>, June (1985), p.104."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"George Grey, 7th Earl of Stamford","id":"N8419"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"portrait","id":"AAT33936"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["P.16-1931"],"accessionNumberNum":"16","accessionNumberPrefix":"P","accessionYear":1931,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-12-23","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-30","availableToBook":false}}