Exhibition
Royal Society of Portrait Painters 2019
09 May 2019 – 24 May 2019
Mall Galleries
London, United Kingdom
-
George Frederic Watts RP, Lillie Langtry, also known as the Dean’s Daughter
Talk
Lillie Langtry, Model and Muse
18 May 2019
Regular hours
- Saturday
- 10:00 – 17:00
Cost of entry
Free with exhibition admission (£4)
Address
- The Mall
- London
- SW1Y 5BD
- United Kingdom
Travel Information
- Bus: 3, 6, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 23, 24, 29, 53, 87, 88, 91, 139, 159, 176, 179, 453
- Tube: Charing Cross (2 minutes walk), Piccadilly Circus (5 minutes walk), Embankment (5 minutes walk)
- Rail: Charing Cross
Event map
A panel discussion about G F Watts’ portrait of Lillie Langtry, on loan to the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition, with Curator of the Watts Gallery, Dr Cicely Robinson, and Langtry biographer, Laura Beatty.
About
George Frederic Watts was a early member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and his portrait of actress, producer and Socalite Lille Langtry was originally exhibited with the Society in 1892. Now part of the Watts Gallery collection, it is returning to the RP for this exhibition in the lead up to the Society exhibiting at the Watts Gallery early next year.Langtry's beauty made her a popular actress in the 1880s and she became a theatre producer and manager. She is also famous for being the mistress of Edward VII.
Dr Cicely Robinson will discuss Watts, Langtry and women's changing roles and identity with Langtry's biographer Laura Beatty. They will consider questions around the way women are portrayed then and now, the male gaze, the changing nature of women in theatrical, fashion and celebrity circles, the issues currently being debated around the manipulation and abuse of women, the 'Me Too' campaign in Hollywood and the business of who is in control. How can Lillie be seen in this context? Was she in control of her image or was she exploited?
