"Don't forget me" | Portrait at the Wallace Collection


I saw something I liked at the Wallace Collection, off Marylebone High Street:

A portrait of a society lady.

What grabbed me was not just the portrait, but the big elaborate gilt frame around it – with shadow falling across the upper horizontal and light bouncing off the lower one.

Indeed, I liked the patterned red wallpaper behind it all too.

I made a drawing. Here’s the process video saved by my iPad:

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I like the way my version of the portrait came out.

It amuses me to consider getting it framed, so that I will have a picture in a frame of a picture in a frame.

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Evidently this woman was quite a big deal at the time the painting was made, but her name didn’t stick in my head.

Noli me oblivisci!1, as they used to say.

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1 Noli me oblivisci. It means, “Don’t forget me.”