The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Portrait of Mrs. Leneve

Portrait of Mrs. Leneve

c. 1657
(British, 1618–1680)
Framed: 157.5 x 132.5 x 13 cm (62 x 52 3/16 x 5 1/8 in.); Unframed: 126.7 x 101.3 cm (49 7/8 x 39 7/8 in.)

Did You Know?

Long, slender fingers signified aristocratic elegance when this portrait was painted.

Description


This woman’s heavily lidded eyes, fleshy chin, and slender fingers conform to 17th-century ideals of beauty, but when the museum acquired this painting in 1942, her features had been extensively overpainted to bring her more in line with modern standards of beauty. This later intervention included lowering the sitter’s eyebrows, reducing her prominent eyes and lips, and adding curls to make her forehead appear smaller. Mrs. Leneve now appears as the fashionable artist Peter Lely originally intended.
  • family of the sitter, by descent to Isabella Leneve
    Isabelle Leneve, by descent to her nephew, Peter Leneve
    ?-1759
    Mr. and Mrs. Peter Leneve, Norwich, sold to Horace Walpole
    1759-1797
    Horace Walpole [1717-1797] Strawberry Hill, Middlesex, England, to Earl of Waldegrave
    1797-1842
    The Earls Waldegrave, consigned to Strawberry Hill sale, April 25, 1842, no. 61)
    1842
    (Robins sale, Strawberry Hill, May 18, 1842, sold to Dommes)
    1842-?
    Dommes
    ?-1894
    Sir Hugh Hume Campbell, Bart., sold at Christie’s, London
    1894
    (Christie’s, London, June 16, 1894, no. 26, to Prideaux)
    1894-1909?
    Prideaux
    1909-1915
    R. C. Vose and N. M. Vose, Boston, sold to Mrs. Otto Miller
    1915-1942
    Mrs. Otto Miller, Cleveland, by gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1942-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Snodin, Michael, ed. Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009. p. 309, cat. 140.
    Merchant Taylors' Company (London, England), and Frederick Morris Fry. A Historical Catalogue of the Pictures, Herse-Cloths & Tapestry at Merchant Taylors' Hall With a List of the Sculptures & Engravings. London, United Kingdom: Chapman and Hall, 1907. Reproduced: p. 103
    Francis, Henry S. "The Portrait of Sarah Earle by Sir Peter Lely." The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art XXXI, no. 10 (December, 1944): 177-180. Reproduced: p. 175
    Paintings in the Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1945. Reproduced: p. 17 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 470 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 127 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 127 archive.org
    A description of the villa of Mr. Horace Walpole : youngest son of Sir Robert Walpole, Earl of Orford, at Strawberry-Hill near Twickenham, Middlesex. London, United Kingdom: T. Kirgate, 1784. Reproduced: p. 50
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 169 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. Reproduced: p. 204; Mentioned: p. 205-206
    Snodin, Michael, and Cynthia E. Roman. Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009. Reproduced: p. 135, fig. 155; p. 309
  • British Gallery Reinstallation (June 2020). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).
    Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill. Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT (organizer) (October 15, 2009-January 2, 2010); Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (March 6-July 4, 2010).
    Collecting Drawings in England. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 3, 1987-January 17, 1988).
    Dutch Art and Life in the Seventeenth Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 10-September 2, 1973).
    Style, Truth and the Portrait. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 1-November 19, 1963).
    Alaska-Yukon Exposition. Seattle, WA (June 1,1909 - October 16, 1909).
  • {{cite web|title=Portrait of Mrs. Leneve|url=false|author=Peter Lely|year=c. 1657|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1942.247