Emma Capron

An Old Woman (‘The Ugly Duchess’) by Quinten Massys is one of the Renaissance’s most famous faces. In a fresh review of the iconic image, this book unveils the painting’s original context: its status as a pioneering work of satirical art, its debt to Leonardo da Vinci’s grotesque drawings, and what it tells us about the period’s complex attitudes towards...

The extraordinary story behind Manet’s portrait of his only pupil Eva Gonzalès, placed within the broader context of women painters of the period. Edouard Manet (1832–1883) only ever had one formal pupil, Eva Gonzalès (1849–1883). The daughter of a prominent writer, she entered Manet’s studio aged 19. He portrayed her the year they met and exhibited the ambitious full-length portrait...