Flower girl

Carpenter was a painter of portraits and figure subjects. Her first art studies were made from the pictures at Longford Castle, belonging to Lord Radnor. She came to London in 1814 and soon established her reputation as a fashionable portrait painter. She exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1818-1866 and elsewhere. in 1817 she married William H. Carpenter, Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum. Her portraits follow in the tradition of Lawrence, but have a more fanciful and feminine character which is particularly noticeable in her portraits of children. Three of her works are in the London National Portrait Gallery and there are several 'leaving portraits' by her in the collection at Eton College.