My Favourite Painting: Martin Yeoman
'There is a sublime and sensual beauty about all aspects of this painting.'


Martin Yeoman on The Lady with a Fan by Velázquez:
'There is a sublime and sensual beauty about all aspects of this painting. When I began studying in the 1970s, I fell in love with not only her beautiful face and eyes, but also the drawing of her hands, clearly seen within the white gloves, together with the depiction of extra material on the end of each glove finger.
'The blue silk bow and the cross from which it hangs are yet more marvels of painting and drawing, the bow being reminiscent of the delicate petals of an iris.'
Martin Yeoman is an artist. His next exhibition will be with Jenna Burlingham Fine Art at Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler, London SW1, from March 17 to April 4
John McEwen on The Lady with a Fan by Diego Velázquez:
The 19th-century French art historian Theophile Thoré-Bürger, famed for ‘rediscovering’ Vermeer, thought this portrait had no rival as the best of Velázquez and of Spanish painting in general.
It was in 1624 that Diego Velázquez was appointed court painter to Philip IV of Spain, in succession to the dead de Villandrando. The resulting demands on his time – the king, alone, accounted for 34 portraits – meant he had little time to paint people apart from the royal family; indeed, he also painted fewer religious pictures than any of his Spanish contemporaries.
It makes this portrait a rare exception. For all its renown, the sitter and even her clothes are the subject of irreconcilable debate. Some say she is the artist’s wife or daughter. Academics incline to Marie de Rohan, Duchess of Chevreuse – a 1638 letter mentioned that Velázquez painted her portrait when she was exiled in Madrid under Philip’s protection.
The notoriously low-cut dress is also a clue, as it was a French fashion of the time and led in Spain by the Duchess. Two years after she left the country, the fashion was banned nationwide, except for prostitutes. Unfortunately, the face here bears no resemblance to her other portraits.
Sign up for the Country Life Newsletter
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
Many aspects of the painting have commended its mastery: the way that highlights make a perfect pattern as they intersect with black and the ribbon and rosary beads relieve an otherwise dull area; the way the apparently random, inconsequential red dot by the ribbon adds surprising warmth to the whole. The portrait was first recorded in the collection of Lucien Bonaparte, a younger brother of Napoleon, and acquired by the 4th Marquess of Hertford in 1847.
Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.
-
The fate of the last wolf in Britain? Country Life Quiz of the Day
Our daily quiz tests your gut instinct, powers of deduction and downright luck. Unless you happen to know all the answers for sure.
By Toby Keel Published
-
How to make an ethereal-sounding seafood, spinach and asparagus puff-pastry cloud
Our Kitchen Garden Cook's recipe for a stuffed puff-pastry cloud is easier to make than it is to say.
By Melanie Johnson Published
-
'As a child I wanted to snuggle up with the dogs and be part of it': Alexia Robinson chooses her favourite painting
Alexia Robinson, founder of Love British Food, chooses an Edwin Landseer classic.
By Charlotte Mullins Published
-
The Pre-Raphaelite painter who swapped 'willowy, nubile women' for stained glass — and created some of the best examples in Britain
The painter Edward Burne-Jones turned from paint to glass for much of his career. James Hughes, director of the Victorian Society, chooses a glass masterpiece by Burne-Jones as his favourite 'painting'.
By Charlotte Mullins Published
-
'I can’t look away. I’m captivated': The painter who takes years over each portrait, with the only guarantee being that it won't look like the subject
For Country Life's My Favourite Painting slot, the writer Emily Howes chooses a work by a daring and challenging artist: Frank Auerbach.
By Toby Keel Published
-
My Favourite Painting: Rob Houchen
The actor Rob Houchen chooses a bold and challenging Egon Schiele work.
By Charlotte Mullins Published
-
My Favourite Painting: Jeremy Clarkson
'That's why this is my favourite painting. Because it invites you to imagine'
By Charlotte Mullins Published
-
The chair of the National Gallery names his favourite from among the 2,300 masterpieces — and it will come as a bit of a shock
As the National Gallery turns 200, the chair of its board of trustees, John Booth, chooses his favourite painting.
By Toby Keel Published
-
'A wonderful reminder of what the countryside could and should be': The 200-year-old watercolour of a world fast disappearing
Christopher Price of the Rare Breed Survival Trust on the bucolic beauty of The Magic Apple Tree by Samuel Palmer, which he nominates as his favourite painting.
By Charlotte Mullins Published
-
My favourite painting: Andrew Graham-Dixon
'Lesson Number One: it’s the pictures that baffle and tantalise you that stay in the mind forever .'
By Country Life Published