BP Travel Award: Paintings

The Four Ages of Woman

This is a series of 4 paintings in which modern 21st century women at various stages of their lives are portrayed wearing an authentic piece of early 17th century lace, as often seen in 17th century portraits.

The Lacemaker, Oil on linen, 60x50cm. Sold

The Lacemaker

The Four Ages of Woman

The model is 9 years old, an age at which she could have been a trained lace maker already were she alive in the 17th century. This 21st century girl is wearing a kerchief (shawl) edged with authentic Flemish bobbin lace from the mid 17th century. This type of scalloped lace we often find in Dutch portraits, for example in the direct inspiration for this piece: Johannes Verspronck’s Girl in Blue which hangs in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

A Fine Thread, Oil on linen, 60x50cm. Available.

A Fine Thread

The Four Ages of Women

The lace in this piece is an authentic piece of Flemish straight bobbin lace from around 1640. It has flowers and scrolling patterns that was very popular in The Netherlands in the 17th century. Because of its popularity it is often called Dutch lace. The lace shows the use of an early mesh, which would later in the century develop further when more open designs became popular.

Repeating Patterns, Oil on linen, 60x50cm, Available

Repeating Patterns

The Four Ages of Woman

The Reticella ruff seen in my portrait of a woman in Repeating Patterns was inspired by the collars so foten seen in English portraits from the early 17th century such as in William Larkin’s and other Elizabethan and early Jacobean portraits. For the painting I created a ruff from a long piece of (probably) 17th century reticella needle lace. It has the typical squared patterns of circles and stars, all worked densely with a buttonhole stitch. Reticella is a very early lace which would develop in the 17th century into more fine needle lace with more free-flowing patterns.

The Pearl Necklace, Oil on linen, 60x50cm, Available

The Pearl Necklace

The Four Ages of Woman

The collar in this portrait was inspired by the spidery bobbin lace collars and cuffs seen in many 17th century portraits such as in Marcus Gheeraerts’ portrait of Lady Killigrew. the authentic piece of lace seen in my painting is probably an Italian bobbin lace from around 1620, which imitates needle lace in its spidery nature. It has a rich brown golden colour and is in excellent condition despite its old age and fineness.

Pleating Time, Oil on linen, 40x60cm. NFS

Pleating Time

Inspired by the Dutch 17th century ruffs so often seen in portraiture of the time I mixed art and fashion history with a bit of twenties swing.

She Becomes Her, Oil on linen, 101.5x66cm, 2014. Sold

She Becomes Her

In this painting I was inspired by the paintings of Robert Peake the Elder (ca. 1551-1619). He was an English painter working at the English court during the later years of Elizabeth I and during most of the reign of James I. He was the main ‘Picture maker’ to Henry, Prince of Wales since 1604 and became Serjeant Painter together with John de Critz in 1607. Peake’s paintings were fairly old-fashioned at the time, showing the influence of Elizabethan painter Hilliard in its rich colours, exquisite detail and pattern and lack of realism in form and perspective.

One of his paintings in particular, of an unknown lady, inspired me to create She Becomes Her because of its wonderfully modern looking blackwork skirt, her beautiful detailed bodice and her slightly mischievous look. The background of this painting is an earthy greenish-brown. The painting shows well how these early Jacobean paintings remain so flat in its presentation of women.

The lady’s face and hands are like a doll; porcelain white with an unnatural blush. She has smooth long hands with unrealistic thin fingers and high fashionable hair. There is very little detail in the face and very little textures in the skin. At the same time there is an abundance of detail and variety of texture in the dress and jewels. Her dress and jewels reveal her station in life. The lady is her outfit. The outfit is her.My lady of 2014 is wearing a skirt inspired by Peake’s lady, a bodice decorated in a faint historic style, a jet black beaded cape from the 1920s and a feather in her hair. Her face paint recalls the Tudor and Jacobean ideal of a white skin, but in my painting it is applied badly, or not finished, on a naturally tanned woman. The ‘ideal' has gaps and shows us a hint of the woman underneath. She is completely composed however, her hands and her posture show a self awareness and conscious self presentation.She is playing a part, or perhaps it has taken over her character. She is her. But who is she? The newspaper in the background is quiet hint to the current debate about the way women get presented and represented in the media; magazines and papers and how this plays with our own image of femininity. The 2-dimensional pictures in the media become real life or even real life goals. The writing on the picture plane breaks the illusion of realism and abruptly brings it back to a flat surface.

Inside, Oil on linen, 30x24cm. Sold

Inside

The woman behind the mask; who is she? Is she acting or pretending? Is this a beauty ideal or a theatrical character? Who is she kidding?

The Long Wait, Oil on canvas, 101.5x61cm, Available.

The Long Wait

I have been intrigued by the portraits of pregnant women from the late 16th and early 17th century, such as the ones painted by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger. Pregnancy and child birth is nowadays a completely different affair, but the wonder of new life has hopefully not changed in the eyes of the new parents. Inspired by such a dazzling display I decided to bring it into our own time. I portrayed a heavily pregnant friend wearing a modern top of her own choice. She is the 21st century woman, but she is as timeless as human kind itself in her pregnant state.

Her skirt is a copy of the gown of our unknown 17th century lady. For this I copied the pattern from Gheeraerts’ painting, transferred int onto silver-grey taffeta silk and applied the pearls. I could then paint my model wearing the skirt.

The background of The Long Wait is a lace pattern take from an allegedly 16th century piece of lace held at Sudely Castle in Gloucestershire. It is said to have been worked on by Anne Boleyn during her pregnancy and used during Elizabeth I’s christening. The piece was purchased by Emma Dent who collected most of the fantastic lace collection at Sudeley Castle in the late 19th century. there is no real provenance for the piece, just the diary entries from Emma Dent, in which she states she bought the piece in 1878 from descendants of Catherine Parr and it had this story attached that it had belonged to Anne Boleyn. It has since simply always known as a ‘canopy’ made fro Elizabeth I as a baby. That is the reason I have included in my painting, as the association with it are and have always been, pregnancy, new life and motherhood.
In my book ‘The Lace Trail’ I raise doubts about the story attached to the canopy and the consequent date of manufacture. I argued that the piece is a patchwork of 19th and 17t century lace, mostly likely put together in the 19th century

The Handkerchief Girl, Oil on linen, 91.4x76cm. Sold

The Handkerchief Girl

This painting is a play on the recurring motif of a handkerchief in 17th century portraits and more specifically in William Larkin’s works. The curtains and carpet are also frequently seen. For this costume I collected many lace handkerchiefs. I ended up wit mostly 19th and 20th century peices, most interestingly a Bedfordshire lace handkerchief (in the centre of the painting) and a modern reproduction early reticella lace in the model’s hand. The giant skirt is mostly edged with authentic 17th century reticella lace. Antique golden shoes from the 1920s finish off the image.