Lady Ludlow, née Alice Sedgwick Mankiewicz 1924

Lady Ludlow was painted by Philip Alexius de László, and look at how he’s handled that yellow dress, it's pretty amazing. I mean, think about it, yellow can be a tricky color, right? But here, it's like sunshine caught in fabric folds. I wonder what it was like for de László, standing there, trying to capture not just her likeness, but the way light plays on silk. Did he struggle with getting that drape just so? Did he add layer upon layer? You can almost feel the brushstrokes, the push and pull of trying to get it right. It reminds me of Sargent, the way he could make paint sing. There's a conversation happening across time, you know, artists looking at each other, challenging each other, inspiring each other to see the world in new ways. It’s like a painterly version of the telephone game.