"john theodore heins" blog posts

The Lady with the 5 o’clock shadowDetail of a portrait of a woman wearing a blue silk dress holding a jasmine flower with a white bonnet and collar. She holds a jasmine flower in her right hand. The lower half of her face has a five o'clock shadow.

The Lady with the 5 o’clock shadow

Dr Amanda Draper, Curator of Art & Exhibitions writes … When I first arrived at the VG&M in January 2018 there was one painting in the building that hypnotised me. It had come into the collection in 2000 with no known title and had been descriptively labelled as ‘Portrait of a woman wearing a blue silk dress holding a jasmine flower’ by unknown artist. But there was an elephant in the room. The lower half of the sitter’s face, with its amiable if slightly pensive expression, appeared to be covered by a 5 o’clock shadow. They looked in distinct need of a close shave. What was the story here?

Posted on: 3 September 2020