CARWARDINE, PENELOPE (1730?–1800?), afterwards Mrs. Butler, miniature painter, born about 1730, was the eldest daughter of John Carwardine of Thinghills Court, Withington, Herefordshire, by his wife Anne Bullock of Preston Wynn, in the same parish (Berry, Essex Pedigrees). Her father having ruined the family estates, she took to miniature painting, instructed by Ozias Humphrey, and had acquired her art by 1754. She exhibited at the Society of Artists in 1761, 1762, 1771, 1772 (Graves, Dict. of Artists, p. 42). She was a close friend of Sir Joshua and Miss Reynolds; and among Sir Joshua's works is a portrait of one of her sisters, painted by him as a present for her. Many of her miniatures remain in the possession of her family, together with three portraits of herself; one by Bardwell, 1750; one by a Chinese artist, about 1756; the third by Romney, about 1790. She married Mr. Butler, organist of Ranelagh (Burney, Hist. of Music, iv. 669), and St. Margaret's, and St. Anne's, Westminster (Edwards, Anecd. of Painting, p. 13); after this marriage she relinquished her profession. She died a widow, without issue, about 1800.
[Berry's Essex Pedigrees; Graves's Dict. of Artists, p. 42; Burney's History of Music, iv. 669; Edwards's Anecd. of Painting, p. 13; private information.]