Skip to main content

Penelope (Rycroft) Lee Acton

Maker (British, 1734-1802)
Sitter (British, 1764 - 1819)
ClassificationsPAINTINGS
Date1791
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensions93 3/4 x 58 1/4 in. (238.1 x 148 cm.)
DescriptionIn 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 LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Label TextThough 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.
Status
On view
Object number16.1
Susannah (Miller) Lee Acton
George Romney
1786-1787
Object number: 17.25
Penelope (Pitt), Viscountess Ligonier
Thomas Gainsborough
1770
Object number: 11.29
Portrait of a Lady
Francis Cotes
1751
Object number: 11.35
Lady Frances (Finch) Courtenay
Thomas Hudson
ca. 1741
Object number: 44.100
Mary (Newey) Hoadly
William Hogarth
ca.1740's
Object number: 56.18
Lee and Gordon's Mills
Harry Fenn
n.d.
Object number: 91.157
Robert E. Lee
Philip Martiny
late 19th Century
Object number: 24.35
Francis Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon
Joshua Reynolds
1754
Object number: 44.101
Portrait of Cynthia Mary Osborn
Samuel Miller
ca. 1843
Object number: L2015.41.170
The Hon. Anne (Batson) Fane
Thomas Gainsborough
ca.1782
Object number: 26.108