Hopefully…

Igor Ustinov’s Hopefully, depicting a monumental Icarus figure and bird (1996), Ustinov Studio, Theatre Royal, Bath

Into Bath on a cold, crisp, sunny morning (my favourite weather!) to the Ustinov Studio, for a talk on the life of Thomas Gainsborough, (1727-1788): “the easy-going Suffolk lad, transported to the heights of fashion by a natural talent; the rake-on-the-make in London, learning his art in the shadow of Hogarth; falling on his feet when he married a duke's daughter with a handsome private income; the top society portrait painter in Bath and London who earned huge sums by bringing the right people into his studio and the charming and amusing friend of George III.” Theatre Royal