The basis of this article was a paper given at the Society of Jewellery Historians conference Jewels in Portraits: Portraits in Jewels (June 2019) and updated in the Understanding British Portraits network Annual Seminar 2019. It looks at the significance of jewellery in male portraits across the eighteenth century with a particular focus on diamond […]
This research paper explores Eveleen Myers’ adolescent experiences as a studio model to the painters John Millais and Frank Miles, among others, and argues that while learning technique, studio etiquette, and interpersonal skills from these successful practitioners, she also evolved her own artistic vision which characterised her professional photographic work. Download the paper here (PDF): Eveleen […]
Paper by Nigel Arthur, Stills Curator, BFI National Archive Fred Daniels was an elusive character but being elusive makes him all the more interesting. I have recently discovered from conversations with his son Jonty Daniels, that Fred kept working at his studio in Coventry Street for as long as he was physically able even though […]
Over the centuries portraits have been designed to impress; making statements about power, wealth and status. Whenever lace was highly valued it featured strongly in these portraits and this is certainly the case during the period 1540-1640, which is of special interest to me in my study of early bobbin lace. In later portraits skilled […]
Paper by Pat Hardy, Curator of Paintings, Prints and Drawings, Museum of London. January 2013. This rare and engaging figure of Thomas Todd (Fig. 1) a London merchant, is one of the few works to have survived intact which can be attributed to the Chinese artist Chitqua or Tan-Che-Qua (c.1730- c.1796). It was recently acquired […]
An examination of the influence of fashion, politics and war on the styling of British wigs and hair from the mid-seventeenth to the early-ninteenth centuries. Below is the text of a presentation delivered by Felicite Gillham at the Understanding British Portraits seminar ‘Portraits and Textiles‘ at Norwich Castle Museum on 17 January 2012. Felite Gillham’s […]
Portrait-relevant lectures available from the Gresham College website include: The Faces of a King: New research on portraits of Henry VIII delivered 1 Oct 2009 by Dr Tarnya Cooper, National Portrait Gallery. The face of Charles Dickens - portraits of the great author delivered 24 November 2005 by Andrew Xavier, The Charles Dickens Museum. Satire, […]
The subject of this paper is a portrait of the celebrated eighteenth-century dancer, Auguste Vestris, acquired by Tate in 1955, when it was attributed to Gainsborough Dupont, nephew of Thomas Gainsborough. The paper argues that the portrait is in fact by Gainsborough himself and, through a discussion of the context in which it was made, […]
This paper discusses the painting of the courtier and writer Sir William Killigrew and the companion portrait of his wife Mary Hill, Lady Killigrew, both painted in 1638, by Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641). The pair were acquired by Tate in 2002 and 2003 from two entirely different sources. Tate Papers Issue 1 (2004)
