4 finds worth your time.
What Lorcan Byway brought back
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1
Young Woman with a Coral Necklace (1910–1920)
Artwork
Oct 20
★★★★★ Lorcan Byway's pick
The poster piece — a Vermeer-like portrait on public display for the first time since 1964. The coral beads are the only warm note in the frame and they hold your eye the way a held breath holds silence. If you love quiet, masterful painting, this is the one to stand longest in front of.
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2
A Young Nun (c. 1915–1920)
Artwork
Oct 20
★★★★★ Lorcan Byway's pick
From John's series of the Dominican Sisters of Charity at Meudon. Half the face in shadow, the white coif absorbing the palette — John earned the trust of these women, and it shows in the tenderness of the handling.
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3
Portrait of a Girl in Grey (c. 1918–1923)
Artwork
Oct 20
★★★★ Lorcan Byway's pick
A woman in prayer, rosary in hand, pilgrim's cloak around her. From Scotland's own collection — the greys are layered and luminous, not flat. Grows the longer you look.
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4
Gwen John's colour-code notebooks
Artwork
Oct 20
★★★★★ Lorcan Byway's pick
In the Keiller Library: her handwritten notebooks with a secret system for recording colour mixtures. Nobody has cracked it. A scientist's notebook inside an artist's hand — the most intriguing thing in the show.