Susan Penelope Rosse
Susan Penelope Rosse is part of the series ‘Women and the History of Art’, which comprises over thirty reimagined portraits of once-acclaimed female artists in order to highlight gender inequality in the art world. The series asks why these artists – some of them internationally renowned in their time – have since been forgotten by modern audiences.
By giving these female artists a face and reiterating their names in a gallery setting, Kevans contributes to the feminist art historical fight against erasure. The portrait in particular draws attention to the British miniature portrait painter, Susan Penelope Rosse (Rose) (c.1652–1700). Painter of Charles II’s mistresses and other women, Rosse’s father Richard Gibson was a miniaturist from whom she received her training. Her works were generally very small, with some no larger than an inch in length. Portrait miniature was popular in England in the seventeenth century, and Rosse became one of the best-known artists of this genre.