As part of the Wallace Museum’s outreach program, we had a visit recently from a lovely lady called Daisy, who came in to talk about the museum and the portraits that are housed there.
She got out a copy of the ‘Laughing Cavalier’ painting, which was instantly recognised by many of our residents who had a great discussion about how no one knew for sure who he was. Historians had decided it was painted for him to find a partner, and Daisy said it was ‘the original dating app’, which we all found funny!
We then discussed the painting of Mrs Mary Robinson, an actress who became the mistress of the then Prince of Wales in 1779; in the painting (which she commissioned after he abandoned her) she has a miniature painting of the Prince.
All our residents found this subject very interesting and had lots of input into the whole discussion. Daisy interacted brilliantly with everyone and it was a really fascinating session.
