Games: Details competition
Details 460 came from Van Dyck's post-mortem portrait of Venetia, Lady Digby, on her Deathbed (1633). The image is ambiguous, not exactly
death-like. Is she sitting up or lying flat? Peacefully asleep or stone cold? Either way, uncertainly embodied: the rest of her
disappears under and
into the lapping bed-clothes, which then flow emptily out of the picture. It's a brilliant invention of flesh and cloth to create a gently fading
presence - perhaps deliberately commissioned by her husband to calm rumours of a violent end. The picture (not in the recent Van Dyck show) belongs to the Dulwich Picture Gallery, and can be seen there when it reopens next year.
The first three correct entries came from: J Fish, London E14; M Ewart, London NW1; R McKitterick, Cambridge
In which painting by which painter can you find this plunge?
Answer on a postcard, to arrive by Friday 10 December??: DETAILS 462, IoS, 1 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5DL. Three winners will each receive a bottle of champagne
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies