Author Spotlight

GUEST BLOG: Nicole Swengley on following in her Heroine’s Footsteps

Nicole Swengley, debut author of The Portrait Girl, out now on Breakthrough Books, shares her experience of finding her extraordinary portrait girl:

I’d spent ages searching for her. She had to look young, mysterious and alluring. Not a modern face but Victorian. Preferably with flaming hair and small enough to fit within an oval frame on the cover of my debut novel, The Portrait Girl. Then – eureka! – I spotted the perfect image on Alamy’s website and purchased a usage licence.

And yet… who was she? And which artist originally painted her? Alamy’s caption read ‘vintage stock photo’ with no further information supplied when I enquired. So I embarked on a journey that strangely echoed my novel’s heroine, Freya Wetherby, after she discovers a portrait miniature of an unknown young woman in her late mother’s belongings.

First stop the newly re-vamped National Portrait Gallery. A wonderful visit but no sign of her. Next up, Tate Britain. No luck there either. The V&A? Dozens of portrait miniatures but still she eluded me. Perhaps some online research would yield results.

Trawling paintings by Victorian artists, particularly a group known as the Pre-Raphaelites, led me to think the artist was Arthur Hughes. Then I stumbled across one of his paintings in Sheffield’s Graves Gallery called ‘In the Grass’. Yes! Here was a very similar model who even wore a bluebell bracelet much like the bluebell necklace worn by “my” portrait girl.

I emailed the gallery’s curator who kindly told me the model was thought to be Arthur Hughes’ wife, Tryphena Foord (1828 – 1921). Further online research revealed that Christie’s sold a 10in by 8in study of a ‘female head’ by Hughes in 2018. It was identical to the image I’d asked my cover designer, Ivy Ngeow, to use.

Arthur Hughes’ wife, Tryphena Foord. Photo credit: Keith Corrigan/Alamy Stock Photo

I emailed Christie’s who said the painting is now held in a private collection. Their specialist helpfully directed me to Leonard Roberts’s catalogue raisonne, Arthur Hughes: His Life and Works, which I tracked down at Westminster Central Reference Library. Stephen Wildman’s biographical introduction revealed that Hughes proposed to Tryphena in 1851 after she modelled for his painting, April Love(now in Tate Britain).

She was also named as the model in many other paintings by Hughes including A Music Party, The Long Engagement and Home from Sea. Although the ‘female head’ study wasn’t specifically identified, I concluded that Tryphena’s memorable face now graces The Portrait Girl’s cover. And how perfect she looks there.

The Portrait Girl is now out!

Synopsis:

Will she captivate you too?
1880
A young woman sits for the painting of a miniature portrait – a fashionable betrothal gift – while secretly contemplating a terrifying decision that will change everything.
Now
Freya Wetherby’s life is falling apart. Her jewellery business has failed and her boyfriend has betrayed her. Then she discovers a Victorian portrait miniature in her late mother’s belongings. Who is this intriguing young woman? Why is she becoming so obsessed by her?
As she embarks on a quest to discover the girl’s identity, a meeting with an art historian draws her into a fascinating but sinister series of salons where the Victorian art world is uncannily brought to life.
Past and present become dangerously blurred as Freya begins a perilous search for the truth about the portrait miniature – and herself.

About: Nicole Swengley is an author and journalist who has written for the Financial Times, the Telegraph, The Times, Wall Street Journal, London Evening Standard and many other publications. Her short stories have featured in women’s magazines, a crime anthology and themed anthologies from Breakthrough Books. A past student of Faber Academy, one of her stories was shortlisted in a national TV/magazine competition some years ago. The Portrait Girl is her first full-length novel.

You may also like...