Joan Carlile
Portrait of a Lady wearing an oyster satin dress, 1650s
Oil on canvas
12 x 10 ins. (30.5cm x 25.5 cm)
Philip Mould & Co.
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com Joan Carlile was one of the first professional female portrait painters working in England and the present work, recently discovered...
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com
Joan Carlile was one of the first professional female portrait painters working in England and the present work, recently discovered in France, is an exciting addition to her recorded oeuvre.
Joan Palmer was born in c.1606 and was the daughter if William Palmer, an employee of the royal parks of St James’s, and his wife Mary. Palmer married, in 1626, a poet and court dramatist named Lodowick Carlell (1601/2 – 1675) (called ‘Carlile’) who was also groom of the privy chamber and gentleman of the bows to King Charles I (1600-1649). Together they had six children although four of them died before 1644.
In 1637 Lodowick was made a keeper of Richmond Park and the Carlile family moved to Petersham and lived in Petersham Lodge in the north-west corner of the park. Although information on Carlile’s early life is scant, the surviving correspondence of Bishop Duppa (1589-1662), a royalist advisor who was exiled to Richmond during the Interregnum, provides some interesting details on her time in Richmond. Duppa’s letters reveal, for example, that the Carlile’s took in wealthy aristocratic lodgers and that by 1653 ‘ye Mistree of ye Family intends for London, where she meanes to make use of her skill to some more Advantage then hitherto she hath don.’
The following year Carlile, along with her family, relocated to Covent Garden which was already home to a number of prominent artists including Samuel Cooper (1608-1672) and Mary Beale (1633-1699). However, by 1656 Carlile was back in Petersham. This return to what was then considered the countryside had no detrimental effect on her career as a painter and Sir William Sanderson, in his Graphice published in 1658, acknowledged Carlile as a ‘worthy Artist' in 'Oyl Colours’. In 1663 Carlile and her family moved back to London and lived in St James’s Market. Carlile died in 1679, 4 years after her husband, and she was buried next to him at Petersham.
The life and work of Carlile is currently undergoing an extensive reappraisal and over the last few years several of her works have been rediscovered, including a fine full-length portrait now in the Tate collection. Carlile’s work is also been studied more closely on a technical level, and ongoing conservation work on the triple portrait of Elizabeth Murray (1626-1698), Countess of Dysart with her first husband Sir Lionel Tollemache (1624-1669) and sister Margaret Murray (c.1638-1682), Lady Maynard at Ham House allows a more in-depth study of Carlile’s painting style than as hitherto been possible.
It has been observed that certain stylistic traits, such as the silvery highlighting of facial features, for example, reoccur in the majority of studied portraits by Carlile, and there is also a clear consistency in the way she depicted the hanging curls of her female subject’s hair. Many of her works also share compositional affinities. Carlile appears to have dominated the market for half-scale full-length portraiture - that is the depiction of a subject in a full-length format but on a canvas typically used for half-length portraits measuring approximately 50 x 40 inches. This service was not offered by many portrait painters at this date and neither Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680) nor Mary Beale (1633-1699) are known to have worked on this scale. It is possible that the present work was once similar in scale and was subsequently reduced, although the age of the stretcher and canvas onto which it is lined would suggest this is this was the case, it was done not long after it was painted.
The style of our subject’s dress indicates the portrait was painted in the 1650s during the Interregnum, when low-cut bodices were the height of fashion. It has been suggested that the subject of our portrait is Elizabeth Murray (1626-1698), Countess of Dysart, who Carlile painted within the triple portrait at Ham House. There is indeed a strong resemblance in facial features and we do know that Carlile was patronised extensively by the Murray family.
[1] We are grateful to Dr Jane Eade, curator at the National Trust (London and South East) and Nicole Ryder, conservator for the National Trust, for their kind assistance when preparing this catalogue note.
[2] Burnette, A. (2004-09-23). Carlile [Carlell; née Palmer], Joan (c. 1606–1679), portrait painter and copyist. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 26 Mar. 2018, from http://www.oxforddnb.com.ezproxy2.londonlibrary.co.uk/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-4681
[3] Toynbee, M., & Isham, G. (1954). Joan Carlile (1606?-1679) - An Identification. The Burlington Magazine, 96(618), 275. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy2....
[4] Toynbee, M., & Isham, G. (1954). Joan Carlile (1606?-1679) - An Identification. The Burlington Magazine, 96(618), 275. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy2....
[5] Sanderson, W. (2016). Graphice, the use of the pen and pensil, or the most excellent art of painting: in two parts ... (classic reprint). [S.l.], forgotten books
[6] Toynbee, M., & Isham, G. (1954). Joan Carlile (1606?-1679) - An Identification. The Burlington Magazine, 96(618), 276. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy2.... No.T14495
[7] We are grateful to Nicole Ryder, conservator for the National Trust, for her insights on Carlile’s painting technique.
[8] We are grateful to Dr Jane Eade for suggesting this identification.
Joan Carlile was one of the first professional female portrait painters working in England and the present work, recently discovered in France, is an exciting addition to her recorded oeuvre.
Joan Palmer was born in c.1606 and was the daughter if William Palmer, an employee of the royal parks of St James’s, and his wife Mary. Palmer married, in 1626, a poet and court dramatist named Lodowick Carlell (1601/2 – 1675) (called ‘Carlile’) who was also groom of the privy chamber and gentleman of the bows to King Charles I (1600-1649). Together they had six children although four of them died before 1644.
In 1637 Lodowick was made a keeper of Richmond Park and the Carlile family moved to Petersham and lived in Petersham Lodge in the north-west corner of the park. Although information on Carlile’s early life is scant, the surviving correspondence of Bishop Duppa (1589-1662), a royalist advisor who was exiled to Richmond during the Interregnum, provides some interesting details on her time in Richmond. Duppa’s letters reveal, for example, that the Carlile’s took in wealthy aristocratic lodgers and that by 1653 ‘ye Mistree of ye Family intends for London, where she meanes to make use of her skill to some more Advantage then hitherto she hath don.’
The following year Carlile, along with her family, relocated to Covent Garden which was already home to a number of prominent artists including Samuel Cooper (1608-1672) and Mary Beale (1633-1699). However, by 1656 Carlile was back in Petersham. This return to what was then considered the countryside had no detrimental effect on her career as a painter and Sir William Sanderson, in his Graphice published in 1658, acknowledged Carlile as a ‘worthy Artist' in 'Oyl Colours’. In 1663 Carlile and her family moved back to London and lived in St James’s Market. Carlile died in 1679, 4 years after her husband, and she was buried next to him at Petersham.
The life and work of Carlile is currently undergoing an extensive reappraisal and over the last few years several of her works have been rediscovered, including a fine full-length portrait now in the Tate collection. Carlile’s work is also been studied more closely on a technical level, and ongoing conservation work on the triple portrait of Elizabeth Murray (1626-1698), Countess of Dysart with her first husband Sir Lionel Tollemache (1624-1669) and sister Margaret Murray (c.1638-1682), Lady Maynard at Ham House allows a more in-depth study of Carlile’s painting style than as hitherto been possible.
It has been observed that certain stylistic traits, such as the silvery highlighting of facial features, for example, reoccur in the majority of studied portraits by Carlile, and there is also a clear consistency in the way she depicted the hanging curls of her female subject’s hair. Many of her works also share compositional affinities. Carlile appears to have dominated the market for half-scale full-length portraiture - that is the depiction of a subject in a full-length format but on a canvas typically used for half-length portraits measuring approximately 50 x 40 inches. This service was not offered by many portrait painters at this date and neither Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680) nor Mary Beale (1633-1699) are known to have worked on this scale. It is possible that the present work was once similar in scale and was subsequently reduced, although the age of the stretcher and canvas onto which it is lined would suggest this is this was the case, it was done not long after it was painted.
The style of our subject’s dress indicates the portrait was painted in the 1650s during the Interregnum, when low-cut bodices were the height of fashion. It has been suggested that the subject of our portrait is Elizabeth Murray (1626-1698), Countess of Dysart, who Carlile painted within the triple portrait at Ham House. There is indeed a strong resemblance in facial features and we do know that Carlile was patronised extensively by the Murray family.
[1] We are grateful to Dr Jane Eade, curator at the National Trust (London and South East) and Nicole Ryder, conservator for the National Trust, for their kind assistance when preparing this catalogue note.
[2] Burnette, A. (2004-09-23). Carlile [Carlell; née Palmer], Joan (c. 1606–1679), portrait painter and copyist. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 26 Mar. 2018, from http://www.oxforddnb.com.ezproxy2.londonlibrary.co.uk/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-4681
[3] Toynbee, M., & Isham, G. (1954). Joan Carlile (1606?-1679) - An Identification. The Burlington Magazine, 96(618), 275. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy2....
[4] Toynbee, M., & Isham, G. (1954). Joan Carlile (1606?-1679) - An Identification. The Burlington Magazine, 96(618), 275. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy2....
[5] Sanderson, W. (2016). Graphice, the use of the pen and pensil, or the most excellent art of painting: in two parts ... (classic reprint). [S.l.], forgotten books
[6] Toynbee, M., & Isham, G. (1954). Joan Carlile (1606?-1679) - An Identification. The Burlington Magazine, 96(618), 276. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy2.... No.T14495
[7] We are grateful to Nicole Ryder, conservator for the National Trust, for her insights on Carlile’s painting technique.
[8] We are grateful to Dr Jane Eade for suggesting this identification.
Provenance
The Earls of Hardwicke (as suggested by an old label on the reverse);Private collection, France, until 2017