I bought a postcard of this picture at an exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London. The painting had been brought from New York to hang among the other stylish, subtle and confident paintings by John Singer Sargent. Many were of corners of Venice but this is somewhere else - a villa in Frascati..
The image has has been a talisman for me - a reminder that a woman can confidently paint even if the circumstances are tricky or unlikely. Here she is in her cumbersome clothes (surely white is unsuitable), the balustrade looks a rather hard seat and the fountain keeps spraying water. Her husband looks on and seems rather bored with it all. But she carries on, straight-backed, determined and elegant: . Painting is a valid activity, it says to me. being creative whenever, wherever, is not only possible but necessary. The post card used to sit next to my dish of keys in the narrow hallway of my London home so I would see it every day. It travelled north with me and now is pinned to the noticeboard in my studio - continuing to inspire
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