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Portrait of Mrs. Leneve
The Cleveland Museum of Art

Portrait of Mrs. Leneve

oil on canvasPeter Lely (British, 1618–1680)/c. 1657

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.

Provenance

family of the sitter, by descent to Isabella Leneve; Isabelle Leneve, by descent to her nephew, Peter Leneve; Mr. and Mrs. Peter Leneve, Norwich, sold to Horace Walpole; Horace Walpole [1717-1797] Strawberry Hill, Middlesex, England, to Earl of Waldegrave; The Earls Waldegrave, consigned to Strawberry Hill sale, April 25, 1842, no. 61); (Robins sale, Strawberry Hill, May 18, 1842, sold to Dommes); Dommes; Sir Hugh Hume Campbell, Bart., sold at Christie’s, London; (Christie’s, London, June 16, 1894, no. 26, to Prideaux); Prideaux; R. C. Vose and N. M. Vose, Boston, sold to Mrs. Otto Miller; Mrs. Otto Miller, Cleveland, by gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Dimensions

126.7 × 101.3 cm

Accession No

1942.247

Official Citations

[The Cleveland Museum of Art Official Record][Full Resolution Image]
Curatorial Affinity Stream

Continuing the Universe of Peter Lely (British, 1618–1680)

European Painting and Sculpture • England, 17th century • Harmonious Works & Contemporaries

Portrait of Mrs. Leneve by Peter Lely (British, 1618–1680) (c. 1657) | PublicArk | PublicArk