The Sisters, by Margaret Sarah Carpenter (1793-1892). 1839. Oil on panel. H 30.5 x W 35.6 cm. Collection: Victoria and Albert Museum, accession no. FA.18[O], a gift from John Sheepshanks in 1857. Image © Victoria and Albert Museum, downloaded from the museum's website with thanks, for the purpose of non-commercial research. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
According to the museum, these were the artist's daughters. She had eight children, five of whom survived infancy, and three of whom, including one of her daughters, Henrietta (1822–1895), also became artists. This double portrait shows the sisters to have been attractive, affectionate towards each other, and bound by a shared interest in their intellectual pursuits. In giving information about the "Miss Carpenter" who donated an early watercolour portrait of her mother to their collection, the British Museum names the two daughters shown here as Henrietta herself, and Jane (who would marry her cousin Wilkie Collins's friend, Charles Ward, see Collins, p. 19). The warmth in the mother's depiction of them is unmistakable, and very appealing. — Jacqueline Banerjee
Bibliography
Collins, Wilkie. The Letters of Wilkie Collins. Vol. I (1838-1865). Edited by William Baker and William C. Clarke. London: Macmillan,1999.
"Miss Carpenter." British Museum. Web. 20 October 2024.
The Sisters. Victoria and Albert Museum. Web. 20 October 2024.
Smith, Richard J. "Carpenter [née Geddes], Margaret Sarah (1793–1872), portrait and genre painter." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed. Web. 20 October 2024.
Created 20 October 2024