As a postscript to ‘Painted Ladies’, and its theme of the connection between paintings and fashion, I took in our recent ‘Gold Label’ collection the 17th century fashion for having your portrait painted as if you had just got out of bed.
Nell Gwyn is in a state of madness, it seems as if she has just pulled off the satin cover of the bed and draped it over her chemise in the pose of a Greek statue: the pretext is that she is a Greek nymph or goddess but this is just an excuse to show her off as a real sexy woman.
I have been following your blog for a few months now and I have felt quite inspired by your energy trying to get people to go to museums and to see more art – specially in a place like London. I started working for a museum a year ago and since then I have been visiting more exhibitions and places that I probably would have missed otherwise… Specially in London, where we have some of the most beautiful art in the world! Anyway, you probably have been there already but I wanted to recommend you the Johan Zoffany exhibition at the Royal Academy. Yesterday I didn’t even know who he was, and now I’m a fan. If you have some time, don’t miss it!!!
xxx