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Posted: 23-03-2013 10:27 Post subject:

Funnily enough, that Wings of Love painting featured in 'Abigail's Party', which was on telly the other night.

Posted: 23-03-2013 20:51 Post subject:

It was also in an episode of Myf Warhurst's Nice. Apparently, as a young girl, she thought it was great art, but it really isn't.

Posted: 23-03-2013 21:41 Post subject:

There's a discussion of that work on here somewhere, possibly on this very thread.

My former in-laws had a copy on their lounge wall for years. They felt very sophisticated. Cool

Posted: 24-03-2013 19:26 Post subject:

My parents had Wings of Love. It was huge and on the living room wall for years. They probably got it from the Freemans catalogue, because my mum worked for Freemans. By the time they bought it, it must already have been shown up for the pretentious, mass produced, kitsch-bomb that it is by Abigail's Party, which I seem to remember was very popular. Anyway, I liked it because I was wee and it looked a bit "science-fictioney". Embarassed

Posted: 04-10-2013 08:50 Post subject:

This story probably fits quite well with all the other weird tales here:

Mysterious 'ugly woman' painting baffles Winchester couple
[Video: Keith Webb said his wife Sue does not want the portrait in their house]

A couple have been left "mystified" after an oil painting of an "ugly" woman in a white headscarf was sent to them in the post with no explanation.
The parcel was addressed to Keith Webb at his home in Winchester, Hampshire, and contained the unmarked portrait.

He said his wife Sue felt "threatened" by the image, which arrived on Wednesday without an accompanying note, so they banished it to the garage.
Royal Mail has been unable to tell the couple the identity of the sender.

Mr Webb, 82, said: "My wife and I were mystified. I opened it up and there was this extraordinary painting.
Keith Webb does not want to keep the painting "It [has] no artist's name on it and no title, but it is of this rather unpleasant looking old lady with a hooked nose.
"It's a painting of such a horrid old crone - my wife won't have it in the house."

Mr Webb said he had taken it to a local auctioneers who told him it was between 200 and 300 years old and worth about £200.
He added that none of his relatives had died recently so he did not think the painting had been left to him in a will.

Mr Webb also contacted Parcelforce, but all he was told was that the parcel was sent from a WHSmith post office.
He hopes the sender will come forward.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-24379841

Posted: 04-10-2013 10:34 Post subject:

I really like that picture, it's quirky Smile

Posted: 04-10-2013 11:11 Post subject:

Posted: 04-10-2013 11:30 Post subject:

I'm a bit puzzled by it. It is designed like a portrait but who was going to present such a portrait of a sitter? The style is from genre painting - she is less angular than Fuselli's witches but would not be out of place in Macbeth or one of Goya's nightmares.

I would not be surprised if it turned out to be a modern pastiche and the mystery some form of stunt. Smile

Posted: 06-10-2013 13:19 Post subject:

Winchester 'ugly woman' painting mystery solved

A couple have solved the mystery of who owned an oil painting depicting an "ugly" woman which was posted to them without explanation.
Keith and Sue Webb received the unmarked portrait at their home in Winchester, Hampshire on Wednesday.
It had no covering letter and Mrs Webb banished it to the garage, calling the woman pictured a "horrid old crone".

A relative in Australia has told Mr Webb she recognised it from his late uncle's house, where it once hung.
Mr Webb, an 82-year-old industrial property landlord, now hopes to keep the portrait in the family, having initially shown a dislike to it.
But he still does not know who sent the painting in the post.

"I believe it's a portrait of my great, great grandmother," Mr Webb said.
"Alison, my late cousin's wife in Perth, Western Australia saw the initial story about Sue and I being sent the picture and solved the mystery.
"She remembered staying with my uncle, Charles Webb, in Winchester in the 1970s and that the painting used to hang on his bedroom wall.
"Her daughters were absolutely terrified of it and wouldn't go near it."

Mr Webb was his uncle's executor when he died, but understands the picture was given to his younger brother Leigh.
"Having initially been so rude about the painting, it now turns out it's come from within the family," he added.
"There's been interest from one of my children who might like to hang it in a holiday home he lets.
"But in the meantime, Sue's insisting it's not moving from the garage."

Mr and Mrs Webb took the portrait to a local auctioneers who told them it was between 200 and 300 years old and worth about £200.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-24419383