Skip to content
Title:
Caterina Penza
Object name(s):
Picture; Italian
Brief description:
This portrait of Caterina Giovanna Penza (or Pensa) was probably intended to hang beside a companion picture of her husband, the Venetian architect Tommaso Temanza, in which he holds the instruments of his profession (Gallerie dell' Accademia, Venice). Alessandro was the son of artist Pietro Longhi, whose paintings are also in the National Gallery's collection.Born in 1721, Caterina married Tommaso in 1739 and was still alive in 1789, when her husband died. This portrait was painted in around 1760, when Caterina was about 40 years old. Her hair is neatly tied back and covered in wig powder to create a silver-grey appearance; her smile is relaxed and welcoming, her cheeks rosy and her features delicate. She wears an elegant dress embellished with a lace collar and gold embroidery, a corsage of different flowers and a string of pearls. Set against a plain background, her blue shawl and the flowers on her dress and in her hair bring the portrait to life.
Collection:
National Gallery
Accession date:
1924-01-01
Date - earliest / single:
1924
Date - latest:
1924
Acquisition source:
Dr Ludwig Mond
Associated concept:
jewellery
Credit line:
Mond Bequest, 1924
Current location:
Not on display
Current reproduction location:
2/932/914/234/mid_N-3934-00-000008.jpg
Dimension:
Height
Dimension measured part:
Overall
Dimension measurement unit:
cm
Dimension value:
60.40
Dimension:
Width
Dimension measured part:
Overall
Dimension measurement unit:
cm
Dimension value:
48.30
Form:
None
Material:
oil on canvas
Material:
oil
Material:
canvas
Object name:
Picture; Italian (Venetian)
Object production date:
about 1760
Date - earliest / single:
1760
Date - latest:
1760
Object production date:
Date - period:
1750-74
Object production person:
Alessandro Longhi
Person's birth date:
1733
Person's death date:
1813
Object production place:
Italy
Object production place:
Venice
Other number:
NG3934
Other number type:
object number
Other number:
0EHF-0001-0000-0000
Other number type:
PID
Other number:
NG3934
Other number type:
display number
Other number:
000-02RC-0000
Other number type:
PID (NG alternative)
Other number:
ng33934
Other number type:
sort number
Responsible department/section:
Main Collection
Right note:
To encourage the use and reuse of the National Gallery's collection data, they are released under the following dedications and licences: Structured data (as opposed to narrative texts) are released under a Creative Commons Zero dedication (CC0): https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/. Descriptions, notes and all other narrative text content are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence (CC BY): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Images are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 licence (CC BY-NC-ND): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
Style:
bust portraits
Style:
female portraits
Style:
neoclassical
User's reference:
National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Italian Schools
Reference details:
151-2
Reference note:
Latest catalogue
Reference type:
reference
User's reference:
National Gallery Catalogues: The Eighteenth Century Italian Schools
Reference details:
69-70
Reference note:
Previous catalogues
Reference type:
reference
User's reference:
The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue
Reference details:
386
Reference note:
Key bibliography
Reference type:
reference
User's reference:
The National Gallery lends : pictures from eighteenth-century Venice : [an exhibition organised in conjunction with the Arts Council of Great Britain] /[selection of pictures and catalogue by Homan Potterton].
Reference type:
reference

Persistent shareable link for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/391a7036-7563-3cb1-bc82-3234b22dfe50

Use licence for this record: CC BY

Attribution for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/391a7036-7563-3cb1-bc82-3234b22dfe50, National Gallery, CC BY

Is there a problem with this record? Give feedback.

Sign up to our newsletter

Follow the latest MDS developments every two months with our newsletter.

Unsubscribe any time. See our privacy notice.

Back to top