Seven Victoria plums.
2026
Oil on copper
10 x 20 cm (3.9 x 7.9″), framed dimensions: 21.5 x 31.5 cm (8.5 x 12.5″)
Set in a 23ct hand-water gilded Empire frame.
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A painting of plums from a tree in the artist’s garden, which used to be part of extensive orchards in the 1700s and 1800s feeding the people of London. The plums are a variety named after Queen Victoria.
As is typical of her painting practice, the artist applied the same painting techniques and pigments as those used by 17th century painters in Holland, which involved careful layering of pigments. The pigments used for this painting include for example genuine ultramarine, a blue which was much-loved throughout the Middle Ages, Renaissance and the Dutch Golden Age (for example, Vermeer used this pigment and it is visible in Mary’s robes in the art of the Middle Ages). It was extracted from the semi-precious mineral lapis lazuli, mined in Afghanistan and traded to Europe via Venice. The artost’s white is the same white Rembrandt used and was produced in traditional fashion (the so-called Dutch stacking method).
The painting is on copper, which was traditionally used for still life paintings in 16th and 17th century Holland, due to it being ultra-smooth allowing for fine detail. Copper also gives the painting a beautiful satin-like finish. The artist prepared the copper for painting using traditional methods: sanding the plate to create ‘tooth’ facilitating paint adherence, followed by rubbing with garlic. The garlic sap facilitated a chemical bond between the copper and lead in the first paint layer, lead white. The result is a strong adhesion between the copper support and the painting itself.
