Physical description
Portrait of a woman, to front, head turned slightly to right, wearing an orange-brown dress with white frill edging and a long stripped veil over right shoulder; oval on a rectangular sheet. Features very delicately hatched and blended in pale browns and sanguine, with touches of black and white in the eyes, on a pale but rich carnation ground; hair in brown wash, lined with dark brown/black and with touches of grey and some ochre highlights; head-dress in transparent pale brown wash, with touches of white and ochre, and red-brown; dress in brown wash modelled in black and grey; background an opaque green wash, hatched in black to the left and right above shoulders; on vellum put down on a leaf from a table-book.
Place of Origin
England, Great Britain (painted)
Date
1685-1690 (painted)
Artist/maker
Susannah Penelope Rosse, born 1647 - died 1700 (artist)
Materials and Techniques
Watercolour on vellum put down on a leaf from a table-book
Marks and inscriptions
'Mrs. Rosse.'
Dimensions
Height: 93 mm sheet, Width: 71 mm sheet, Height: 82 mm oval, Width: 66 mm oval
Object history note
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.
Descriptive line
Portrait miniature of a woman, presumed to be a self-portrait of Susannah-Penelope Rosse, watercolour on vellum, 1685-1690.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
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.
Cat.141, p.243. Full Citation:
“141 Presumed Self- Portrait
1685-90
457-1892
Rectangular 93 x 71 mm with a drawn oval 82 x 66 mm
Features very delicately hatched and blended in pale browns and sanguine, with touches of black and white in the eyes, on a pale but rich carnation ground; hair in brown wash, lined with dark brown/black and with touches of grey and some ochre highlights; head-dress in transparent pale brown wash, with touches of white and ochre, and red-brown; dress in brown wash modelled in black and grey; background an opaque green wash, hatched in black to the left and right above shoulders; on vellum put down on a leaf from a table-book.
Condition: Some blackening of the whites of the costume; otherwise good.
Signed: Not signed. Inscribed in metal-point (?) on the back: Mrs. Rosse.
Frame: From The Pocket Book; see Cat. No. 87. [460-1892]
Provenance: As for Cat. No. 88. [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.]
Exhibited: As for Cat. No. 88. [South Kensington 1862, no. 2531 (the set as Cooper); BFAC 1889, p. 133, case XLI, nos 1-15 (Cooper); V&A 1983, unnumbered.]
Literature: As for Cat. No. 88 [Williamson 1904, vol. I, pp. 51-2 (on the set, reproducing four by Rosse); Foster 1898, p. 40; Foster 1903, vol. I, p. 53 (tentatively attributing the set to Flatman); Foster 1908, p. 184 (as attributed to Cooper, but Foster would give some to Dixon; he now states that some give the poorer ones to Flatman); Catalogue of Miniatures , 1908, pp. 9-10 (as formerly attributed to Cooper); Goulding 1914-15, p. 49 (as Rosse); Long 1929, p. 377 (Rosse); Long 1930, pp. 65-6 (as by Rosse); Reynolds 1952, pp. 81-2 (Rosse); Foskett 1963, pp. 77-8; Foskett 1972, vol. I, p. 481 (Rosse); Foskett 1974, p. 91 (Rosse); Reynolds 1975, specifically p. 9, no. 1, pl. 13; Foskett 1979, pp. 125-6 (following Reynolds 1975); Summary Catalogue , 1981, p. 9 (Cooper); V J Murrell, 'The Craft of the Miniaturist' , Murdoch 1981, p. 12, fig. 14 (as Cooper); V J Murrell, 'Technique and Practice', Strong 1983, p. 28, no. I; Reynolds 1988, p. 78 and specifically pp. 59 and 78.] for general references; specifically, Williamson 1904, vol. I, pl, xxvii, no. 3; Reynolds 1975, no. 6, pl. 19 (dated c.1690-5); Los Angeles and Nottingham 1976-7 [catalogue], p. 156; Reynolds 1988, p.78.
Like Cat. No. 138, this is presumably a self-portrait, but taken five or so years later, in about 1685-90. Reynolds's dating of 1690-5, which overrides Madeleine Ginsburg's advice (1) is somewhat late, both on the perceived difference in SusannahPenelope's appearance and on her costume and the neatly pinned hair in the present miniature. Ginsburg compares the light cloth head-dress with that in a 'portrait of Mme de Maintenon by Pierre Mignard (N Mitford, The Sun-King, 1969, pl. facing p. 113) which ... would seem to be the portrait of her "en Sainte Fransoise Romaine" painted presumably after her marriage in 1684 ... [therefore] perhaps c.1690?'
1 Minute of December 1974, departmental files.”
Exhibition History
Exhibition of Portrait Miniatures (Burlington Fine Arts Club 1889-1889)
Special Exhibition of Works of Art at the South Kensington Museum (Victoria and Albert Museum 1862-1862)
Artists of the Tudor Court: the portrait miniature rediscovered, 1520-1620 (Victoria and Albert Museum 09/07/1983-06/11/19833)
Can Art Save Us? (Millennium Gallery, Sheffield 22/10/2009-30/01/2010)
Materials
Watercolour; Vellum
Techniques
Painting
Subjects depicted
Woman; Artist; Veil; Susannah Penelope Rosse
Categories
Portraits; Paintings
Collection code
PDP
