TEEMING’, ‘breeding’, ‘bearing’, ‘big-bellied’, ‘great with child’, ‘in an interesting situation’, ‘rising of the apron’. These are only some of the historic descriptions for pregnant women. One might add ‘bun in the oven’, ‘up the duff’, and, a favorite of my friend with three children under six, ‘in the pudding club’.
A new exhibition at The Foundling Museum introduces us to 500 years of expectant mothers and their bumps. From the Angel Gabriel greeting Mary to Beyoncé announcing her imminent twins on Instagram (1.4 million ‘likes’ in half an hour), curator Karen Hearn has gathered portraits of pregnant women, some blooming, some glowing and some looking thoroughly fed up. The scheme first came to her almost 20 years ago, when, as curator of 16thand 17th-century British Art at Tate, she oversaw the acquisition of a 1620 portrait by Marcus Gheeraerts II of a lady in red laying a protective right hand over the top of her swelling skirts. There is something defiant in the posture and gaze of the unknown sitter. Indeed, she is very determinedly not sitting. Her left arm is draped over the back of a red velvet chair. She wears a feather topper, jet earrings, a constricting ruff, a corset, and a cape. She calls to mind the woman today who wears her stilettos until the very moment she enters the delivery ward.
Denne historien er fra February 12, 2020-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra February 12, 2020-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds
