Five decades on, Picasso's muse steps out as an artist

Picasso only saw the shy 17-year-old girl, whose head was bowed with her hair high in a ponytail, for a few fleeting moments. But that was enough for him to become entranced by her beauty.

He was so struck by the teenager who accompanied her boyfriend to the painter's studio in Provence that after her visit, he drew her portrait from memory and later presented it to her from over a garden fence.

It was the young woman's sultry Brigitte Bardot look that captivated the Spanish artist. The encounter led to a year-long friendship in which Lydia Corbett, then known as Sylvette David, became the painter's model and posed for hours at his studio in the Cote d'Azur town of Vallauris.

The experience, in 1954, was a formative one for Ms Corbett, not least because, as well as becoming Picasso's latest muse, she was inspired to begin painting herself. Now, more than half a century later, Ms Corbett, 72, who lives in Devon, is exhibiting a large body of her work at The Red House Gallery in Exeter, from 15 March until 25 May. The show, which includes watercolours, driftwood art and sculptures, is accompanied by talks by Ms Corbett.

At 17, Ms Corbett was living in the South of France with her English-born mother, who was also an artist, and her boyfriend, Toby Jellinek, who made avant-garde metal chairs. Picasso had set up a studio near by and in 1953, he asked Jellinek to deliver a couple of chairs to his studio. Ms Corbett went along to the painter's studio with her boyfriend, but had little idea of the dramatic effect this meeting had on the painter.

For Picasso, the image of the willowy blonde girl with the Brigitte Bardot hair piled high was one that was to bewitch him for the next year.

Some time later, when she was sitting with her family in the garden of their home in Provence, she saw a portrait of herself emerge from over the garden wall. Picasso had completed the painting from memory and held it up for her to view, calling the work Stunningly Beautiful: The Girl with a Ponytail.

In the following three months, Picasso produced more than 40 pieces based on her likeness, and photographs of the painter with his latest model littered the pages of Parisian magazines.

The artist was famed for being a prodigious womaniser, known as the "bohemian Casanova". The women in his life were said to be the driving force behind much of his artwork, but almost all were left heartbroken as they were replaced by the next mistress-muse.

But unlike many of his former muses, Ms Corbett's relationship with the artist never went beyond a platonic bond - not for the lack of trying on Picasso's part. Mr Corbett remembers that in the course of the sittings, the artist made some romantic overtures, albeit, unsuccessfully.

"He could see I was very shy and frightened and he could feel that. But he would give me a cuddle and one time he showed me a bedroom and jumped on a bed as a joke. Maybe if I hadn't been shy, I would have jumped on it too. He was wonderful to be around and he chatted to me about his youth and his love of creativity," she said.

But their friendship was just as creatively beneficial for Ms Corbett, who began drawing in his studio and completed a figurative drawing overlooked by him. "He did encourage me, and I was inspired by the way he painted" she added.

Ms Corbett said her interest in art was sparked while she sat for Picasso, often posing in a rocking chair. When she later married and moved to England with her husband, she was reluctant to capitalise on the instant celebrity she had found as the painter's muse, and so initially began signing her work under her married name.

For Picasso, the move to his villas, La Gallois, in Vallauris, preceded one of the greatest heartbreaks of his life after his lover Francoise Gilot left him - one of the few women to leave him.

It was here Picasso concentrated on his ceramics work and met Jacqueline Roque, who would be his companion until his death in 1973.

Women who caught Picasso's eye

* Fernande Olivier was Picasso's first love and stayed with him during his Rose Period and early Cubism. After meeting her, Picasso showed a significant change in the tone of his works, and her impact is believed to be apparent in most of his female nudes.

* Olga Koklova was a Russian ballet dancer who Picasso met in 1914 and later married. They had a son, Paulo, who together with Olga formed the subject matter for many of Picasso's paintings. When their marriage began to collapse, Picasso produced smaller, three-dimensional forms in violent styles and colours. Olga had a nervous breakdown, and after the end of their marriage she stalked Picasso and his mistresses.

* Marie-Therese Walter was both Picasso's lover and model and in 1935 gave birth to Picasso's first daughter, Maya. She never became Picasso's wife, despite her desire to be married to him. She hanged herself In 1977.

* Dora Maar came after Marie-Therese. She was an attractive woman who was a successful photographer. They met in 1936 and she became his lover for seven years, during which Picasso created his most famous work, Guernica; her features appear in the painting. She is often seen as the tragic muse of Picasso. She also suffered mental health problems after their break up, and is usually portrayed in Picasso's paintings weeping.

* Jacqueline Roque was the last woman in his life. She lived with him for 20 years until his death in 1973 as a lover, muse and secretary.