{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1069730"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1069730/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2024NU4290/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2024NU4290/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2024NU4290","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1069730/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1069730","accessionNumber":"P.6-1949","objectType":"Miniature","titles":[{"title":"Portrait of an unknown woman","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This portrait miniature may have been made by Mary Benwell, a female miniature painter in eighteenth-century Britain. Benwell was likely taught in the art of the miniature and pastel by Katherine Read. Like many other women artists during this period, she turned to painting in miniature and pastel as a pathway towards financial independence and artistic agency. Benwell exhibited at the Incorporated Society of Artists, the Royal Academy, and the Society of Artists between 1761 and 1774. She was succesful during her life. Benwell's portrait of Queen Charlotte was highly celebrated and circulated widely as an engraving.","physicalDescription":"Portrait miniature on ivory of an unknown woman","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Mary Benwell","id":"A9764"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":"In style of"}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ivory","id":"AAT11857"},{"text":"watercolour","id":"AAT15045"}],"techniques":[{"text":"watercolour painting","id":"THES250889"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour on ivory","categories":[{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"},{"text":"Portraits","id":"THES48906"},{"text":"Miniatures","id":"THES269968"},{"text":"Woman Artist","id":"THES387590"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2024NU4290"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLF","id":"THES49656"},"free":"","case":"RMC","shelf":"2","box":"I"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"miniatures (paintings)","id":"AAT33936"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"United Kingdom","id":"x29336"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"c.1770","earliest":"1765-01-01","latest":"1774-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Count C. Bennigsen in memory of his wife, Countess Olga Bennigsen","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"1.375","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"1949","earliest":"1949-01-01","latest":"1949-12-31"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"1.125","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"1949","earliest":"1949-01-01","latest":"1949-12-31"},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","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, Portrait of an unknown woman, in the style of Mary Benwell, watercolour on ivory, ca. 1770","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1949</u>, London: HMSO, 1961."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"","id":""}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["P.6-1949"],"accessionNumberNum":"6","accessionNumberPrefix":"P","accessionYear":1949,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-05","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-30","availableToBook":false}}