Penelope Biddulph

Painted around 1785, this attractive portrait is understood to depict Penelope Biddulph. Born in 1768, she was the eldest of three daughters born to Michael and Penelope Biddulph of Ledbury. It appears that Skirving painted portraits of all three sisters; the portrait of Mary Ann (b. 1769) is illustrated in Miniatures: Dictionary and Guide (Foskett 1987, p. 340) whilst the portrait of Anne (b.1772) was sold at Christies in 1998 (Robert Baden-Powell collection). A further signed miniature in the V&A Museum of an unknown lady bearing a family resemblance may indeed be a portrait of the girls’ mother, Penelope Biddulph (née Dandridge).

Gold frame with a pearl border, the reverse hinged and glazed to reveal plaited hair.

The son of a Scottish tenant farmer, Archibald Skirving began his artistic career whilst also working as a clerk in the Edinburgh Customs Office. A decade later he made the brave move to London to become a full-time miniaturist though he only stayed two years. He subsequently spent time in Rome but in 1794 whilst sailing homeward he was taken prisoner by the French accused of espionage. Nine months in prison took a toll on his health especially on his eyesight though, upon his return to his native Scotland, he continued to paint portraits in pastel and oils. Not long before his death in 1819, the historian Thomas Carlyle described Skirving as “an altogether striking man … one of the cleanest old men I ever saw … nose hooked like an eagle’s bill, eyes still with something of the eagle’s flash in them … chin all betokening impetuosity, rapidity, delicacy and the stormy fire of genius not yet hidden under the ashes of old age. A face and figure never to be forgotten.”