Peyton's Lady Diana

ELIZABETH PEYTON’S LADY DIANA READING ROMANCE NOVELS (1997)

Represents mass media and pop culture which influence so many individuals identities at the time and especially in today’s day and age. Present in the piece, we also see the interpretation of craft and decorum which created a thought provoking style which translated into current art as it was so relational and collective. These aspects become popular and society is often searching for understanding of identity belonging and origin. Individuals so highly regarded as beautiful or important and styles which make people excited are all things that create a popular standing in societies dialogue at the time and even today.

In this piece we encounter Lady Diana with a pure porcelain face and bright blue eyes and red hair. The oil-on-wood bring the sleekness and colors through sharply making the piece more alluring. Lady Diana seems to be reading Romance Novels, as the title tells us. But as she is looking solemnly out of the portrait, surrounded by these novels, and engulfed in warm light colors backed with a darker cooler palette, we sense a search for identity present. The search, existing within pop culture novels and through a face present in the mass media makes this piece receptacle to more dialogue. However, this is definitely a harder piece to find answers in than some.