A Woman, presumably a self-portrait of Susannah-Penelope Rosse thumbnail 1

A Woman, presumably a self-portrait of Susannah-Penelope Rosse

Portrait Miniature
ca.1680 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Portrait of a woman, half-length, nearly right profile, looking to front. Features softly hatched in brown and sanguine, shadowed with blue and with some white partly blended in, black in the eyes, red in the lips, on a pale carnation ground; hair in brown wash, worked over with very dark brown and with the lights in grey and ochre gouache; dress indicated in brown wash; background a cloudy opaque grey-blue wash; on vellum put down on a leaf from a table-book.

Delve deeper

Discover more about this object
read Portrait miniatures at the V&A In 1857, the year the new South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) opened to the public, the museum acquired its first portrait miniature – an image of Queen Elizabeth I by Nicholas Hilliard. The miniature, housed in an enamelled gold locket with a jewelled cover, is a rare survival as most E...

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleA Woman, presumably a self-portrait of Susannah-Penelope Rosse (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Watercolour on vellum put down on a leaf from a table-book
Brief description
Portrait miniature of a woman, presumably a self portrait by Susannah-Penelope Rosse, watercolour on vellum, ca.1680.
Physical description
Portrait of a woman, half-length, nearly right profile, looking to front. Features softly hatched in brown and sanguine, shadowed with blue and with some white partly blended in, black in the eyes, red in the lips, on a pale carnation ground; hair in brown wash, worked over with very dark brown and with the lights in grey and ochre gouache; dress indicated in brown wash; background a cloudy opaque grey-blue wash; on vellum put down on a leaf from a table-book.
Dimensions
  • Height: 80mm
  • Width: 64mm
Dimensions taken from John Murdoch Seventeenth-century English Miniatures in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: The Stationery Office, 1997.
Content description
Portrait of a woman, turned to right, looking to front.
Styles
Marks and inscriptions
'Mrs Rosse' (Inscribed faintly in metal-point on the back)
Object history
Provenance: Presumably acquired from Cooper's estate by the Rosses, or perhaps by Priestman (see Rosse, Cat. No. 143) and perhaps in the Michael Rosse sale, 2 April 1723; eventually purchased by Edwin [Durning] Lawrence before 1862, and sold by him to the Museum for £525 in 1892
Subjects depicted
Bibliographic reference
Murdoch, John. Seventeenth-century English Miniatures in the Collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London: The Stationery Office in association with the Victoria & Albert Museum, 1997.
Collection
Accession number
451-1892

About this object record

Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.

You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.

Suggest feedback

Record createdJuly 1, 2009
Record URL
Download as: JSONIIIF Manifest