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An Old Woman Spinning Silk
Carpenter, Margaret Sarah, born 1793 - died 1872 - Enlarge image
An Old Woman Spinning Silk
- Object:
Oil painting
- Place of origin:
Great Britain (painted)
- Date:
ca. 1816 (painted)
- Artist/Maker:
Carpenter, Margaret Sarah, born 1793 - died 1872 (painter (artist))
- Materials and Techniques:
Oil on canvas
- Credit Line:
Bequeathed by John M. Parsons
- Museum number:
512-1870
- Gallery location:
In Storage
Margaret Sarah Carpenter was a prolific portraitist who exhibited throughout the first half of the 19th century at the Royal Academy; three of her portraits are in the National Portrait Gallery. This genre scene of an old woman spinning is one of her earliest known works. She seems to have exhibited it at the British Institute in 1816, when she was just 23, under the title 'An Old Woman Spinning Silk'. It may have been cut down before it was sold; the exhibition catalogue records a measurement of '40 by 37 inches', but the V&A's painting is significantly smaller.
