Paintings

Penelope (Rycroft) Lee Acton

Type: Paintings(Opens in new tab)
Date: 1791
Accession number: 16.1
Maker: George Romney(Opens in new tab) (British, 1734–1802)
Sitter: Sitter: Penelope (Rycroft) Lee Acton(Opens in new tab) (British, 1764–1819)
Dimensions: 93 3/4 x 58 1/4 in. (238.1 x 148 cm.)
Medium: oil on canvas
Description: In this full-length portrait, the sitter, Penelope (Rycroft) Lee Acton, is standing right of center wearing a white dress with long, tight sleeves, and full skirt, edged and hemmed with pleated ribbon. The portrait was commissioned by the spouse of Penelope, Nathaniel Lee Acton, to commemorate their marriage in 1791.
Credit: The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Department: European Art
Find out more: View in the Art Museum catalog(Opens in new tab)

Label text

Though painted on the happy occasion of her marriage, this portrait of Penelope Lee Acton has a somber undercurrent. Penelope emerges from a dark, wooded landscape on the right to a brightly illuminated clearing on the left but her backward glance suggests a halt in her momentum, as if making a regretful departure.

Penelope (Rycroft) Lee Acton

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