Name/Title
Portrait, "Brunette lady in a white dress"Context
Attr. Margaret Carpenter (1793-1872)
Ca. 1846
Oil on canvas, 38 x 32 in.
The British painter, nee Margaret Sarah Geddes born in Salisbury, daughter of Alexander Geddes, married 1816 to William Hookham Carpenter (Conservator of the Print Cabinet of the British Museum-1845-1856) exhibited at the British Institute (1853) and at the Royal Academy (1866).
Especially skilled in portraiture she worked in the manner of Sir Thomas Lawrence. Margaret’s output consists of more than eleven hundred pictures that include portraits in oil, watercolour landscapes, and chalk drawings. Her portraits allow the spectator to focus on the fine details of her subjects’ facial expressions to convey the warmth of their personalities.
Three of her portraits are at the London National Portrait Gallery:
- Patrick Fraser Tyler, historian (1845)
- John Gibson, sculptor (1857)
- R. P. Bonnington, painter (-)
One watercolor landscape is at the Victoria and Albert Museum.Acquisition
Accession
1960.04Source or Donor
Mrs. Leslie Waggener, Jr. (Annie Nelson)Acquisition Method
GiftMade/Created
Artist
Said to be Margaret Carpenter (1793-1872)