Lady Penelope Russell, née Hill
(1650s)
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
39.8 × 32.0 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Krystyna Campbell-Pretty AM and Family, 2023
Gallery location
17th Century & Flemish Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
With a recognised oeuvre consisting of a mere eighteen fully and partly attributed works, Joan Carlile is one of the most rarely
encountered painters in British art history. With a claim to being the first professional woman British artist, taking paying commissions from the 1630s onwards, Carlile’s full-length portraits
of ladies in satin dresses set against smoky pink landscapes have become the artist’s most firmly attributable and recognisable works. This painting falls into a lesser- known category of half-length portraits, only four of which are known, three of which are of female sitters.