Edward Penny, R.A.

Portrait of Catherine Whitmore (1722–1800), aged 29, three-quarter-length, wearing a black dress with red rosettes, with a landscape in the distance

Lot Closed

April 6, 03:46 PM GMT

Estimate

4,000 - 6,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

The Property of a Gentleman

Edward Penny, R.A.

Knutsford, Cheshire 1714 - 1791 Chiswick

Portrait of Catherine Whitmore (1722–1800), aged 29, three-quarter-length, wearing a black dress with red rosettes, with a landscape in the distance

signed and dated lower left: Catherine Whitmore, / Sister to Sr. Tho. Whitmore, / 1751. / Edwd. Penner. Pinxt.

oil on canvas

unframed: 126 x 104.8 cm.; 49⅝ x 41 2⁄8 in.

framed: 144.5 x 120.2 cm.; 56⅞ x 47⅜ in.

Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 11 December 1964, lot 52, for 120 guineas;
There acquired by the family of the present owner;
Thence by descent.

Edward Penny was a portrait, historical and genre painter, and one of the founding members of the Royal Academy in 1768. He trained under the portraitist Thomas Hudson in London and later studied with the religious painter Marco Benefial in Rome. He exhibited at the Royal Academy almost every year until 1782, by which time ill-health had caused him to resign his professorship. It appears that Penny worked closely with the family of the present sitter, executing a portrait of her brother's wife Anne Whitmore, née Cope (sold London, Christie's, 11 December 1964, lot 51).