I visited The Wallace Collection in London recently and found myself emerged in their heritage heroines for Women’s History Month.
It got me thinking long before headshot photography, women were commissioning their presence in paint.
I stood in front of these portraits and thought about the experience behind them.
Each of these women made a decision. They chose how they wished to be seen.They chose their clothes, posture and their story.
Their expression.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a painted portrait was not casual. It was intentional. It was legacy. It was identity.
Today, women step into my studio for a headshot. The tools have changed, Oil paint is now the lighting, Canvas the sensor, weeks in front of the artist now becomes hours.
But the core experience? It is remarkably similar. A woman arrives with a question in her eyes. How do I want to be seen? Who am I now?
Just like those women who sat before Vigée Le Brun or Reynolds, there is vulnerability and courage. Because a headshot is not just a photograph, it’s a declaration. A woman claiming her place in the frame.
These women have become part of history. Their images are now legacy.
Centuries later, we are still standing in front of them. What will be left of us? In a world where so much disappears, choosing to seal yourself in time is powerful.
I’m raising a glass to the women in gilded frames… and to the women stepping into the light. The medium has changed but the intention hasn’t.
Can’t recommend “Women’s History Month” at the The Wallace Collection enough.
🎨 Élisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun, Madame Perregaux, 1789
🎨 After Jean-Marc Nattier, Marie Kluczynski, Queen of France, 1746–56
🎨 Joshua Reynolds, Nelly O’Brien, about 1762–3
🎨 Thomas Lawrence, Margaret, Countess of Blessington, 1822
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