The Daily Telegraph

Ugly Duchess was actually a man in drag, says curator

- By Max Stephens

FOR nearly 80 years the wrinkly, jowled and grotesque features of Quinten Massys’ An Old Woman have greeted visitors at London’s National Gallery.

Combined with a “scandalous­ly” large cleavage and a horned headdress it is understand­able why the 16th-century satirical portrait inspired Sir John Tenniel’s illustrati­on of the Duchess in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

However, a new exhibition has now suggested that the Ugly Duchess may actually be a male transvesti­te.

Emma Capron, an expert in Renaissanc­e art and a curator, said that the figure was likely to be a “crossdress­er”, highlighti­ng the artist’s exploratio­n of gender. In an interview with The Observer, Ms Capron said: “Yes, she is most likely a he. We know that Massys was very interested in carnivals, where men would impersonat­e women. The breasts, with their brazen and scandalous cleavage, are a Massys fantasy.”

Despite their appearance, the sitter was always thought to be a woman, possibly suffering from a disease such as Paget’s, where the bones become inflamed and deformed. Indeed, in 2008 researcher­s at University College London said definitive­ly that the “old woman” suffered from Paget’s disease, which enlarged her jaw bones, pushed up her nose and extended her upper lip.

However, Ms Capron told the newspaper: “It’s not Paget’s, nor any of the other suggestion­s like dwarfism or elephantia­sis. I’m really reluctant, too, to have doctors going around galleries and giving diagnoses.

“These grotesque images belong to a world which is upside down, as it were.”

The painting is widely acknowledg­ed to be satirical with most assuming it to be a comment on society’s obsession with maintainin­g a youthful ideal of beauty into old age. It will be reunited with Portrait of an Old Man, the other half of what is thought to have been a diptych, for the new exhibition, The Ugly Duchess: Beauty and Satire in the Renaissanc­e, which runs from March 16 to June 11. It was previously held in a private collection in America.

 ?? ?? Quinten Massys’ An Old Woman, more popularly known as The Ugly Duchess, was thought to be a portrait of a woman suffering from an advanced form of Paget’s disease, which enlarges and deforms the bones
Quinten Massys’ An Old Woman, more popularly known as The Ugly Duchess, was thought to be a portrait of a woman suffering from an advanced form of Paget’s disease, which enlarges and deforms the bones

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom