legends · 4 min read ·
Gallery Wall Captions
Gallery label drafts for a portrait of a woman in grey keep changing, because the chair beside her is occupied.
**Marrick Museum of Fine Art — Autumn Rehang, Gallery 4 (Portraits, 1880–1930)**
**Label drafts for review. Please do not print before sign-off.**
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**Label draft 1 · Accession no. 1974.22**
*Portrait of a Woman in Grey*, c. 1902. Oil on canvas, 74 × 58 cm.
Unknown sitter. The painter's studio ledger records a commission for "the widow Pell" in the spring of 1902, but no payment was made and no portrait is listed under that name. The sitter's hands are folded in her lap. The painting was given to the museum by an anonymous donor in 1974.
*Curator's note (E. Sloane, 3 Sept): Please check the sitter's name against the donor file.*
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**Label draft 2 · Accession no. 1974.22 (revised)**
*Portrait of a Woman in Grey*, c. 1902. Oil on canvas.
The sitter is believed to be Mrs. Anne Pell, who died in the winter of 1903. The painting was completed after her death, from a sketch.
*Curator's note (E. Sloane, 5 Sept): Conservation has flagged the surface. Paint layers show the portrait was repainted at least twice. Earliest layer shows a second figure seated beside the woman. This layer is not visible in normal light.*
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**Conservation report · 1974.22 · Sample analysis (R. Okafor, 9 Sept)**
Cross-section taken from the lower left corner. Under the grey ground, a pigment identified as *Prussian blue, mixed with vermilion*, consistent with a second sitter's dress. The figure is painted in the same posture as the woman above it: hands folded, head bowed. Its face has been scraped away, deliberately, in a fine diagonal stroke.
Raking light shows the scrape marks are recent.
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**Label draft 3 · Accession no. 1974.22**
*Portrait of a Woman in Grey*, c. 1902. Oil on canvas.
The sitter is shown alone.
*Curator's note (E. Sloane, 12 Sept): Please remove the phrase "alone". Visitors have asked me why there is a chair at the edge of the frame.*
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**Visitor comment card (Gallery 4, received 14 Sept)**
*The woman in the grey portrait is looking at me when I stand to the left of the painting. When I stand to the right she is looking at the chair. There is a small smudge on the chair that looks like a head.*
**Staff response:** Thank you for your comment. The painting is on loan from a private collection and cannot be moved.
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**Label draft 4 · Accession no. 1974.22**
*Portrait of a Woman in Grey*, c. 1902. Oil on canvas. Gift of an anonymous donor, 1974.
The sitter is Anne Pell, painted in her last year. The chair beside her is a memorial. Visitors may find it helpful to look at the painting from the chair.
*Curator's note (E. Sloane, 18 Sept): Board has approved this text. Please install before the opening. Do not change the wording without consulting me.*
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**Installation log (Gallery 4, 20 Sept, 06:10)**
Painting hung at eye level, centre wall. Label mounted below. Light set to 120 lux.
Installation crew notes: the painting is heavier than the crate suggested. The second figure, the one in the scraped-out layer, has moved closer to the woman's shoulder since the first hanging. Conservation was informed. Conservation asked us to note it and move on.
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**Label draft 5 · Accession no. 1974.22 (final)**
*Portrait of a Woman in Grey*, c. 1902. Oil on canvas. Gift of an anonymous donor, 1974.
Anne Pell, painted after her death. The sitter is not alone. Please stand where you can see the chair.
*Curator's note (E. Sloane, 21 Sept): Final text. Printed and installed.*
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**Museum security incident report (Gallery 4, 23 Sept, 23:58)**
Motion sensor in Gallery 4 triggered. Camera 4-3 shows the empty gallery. The portrait is visible on screen, unchanged, except that the woman's hands have come apart and rest on the arms of the chair.
The chair is occupied. The figure in it is in the scraped-out layer, now fully visible. The face is not drawn. It is a flat, smooth oval, like paint that has been pressed and then wiped.
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**Final visitor comment card (Gallery 4, received 1 Oct)**
*I stood in front of the grey portrait for a long time. I didn't read the label. When I looked up, the chair was empty and the woman was looking at me, and I understood the label had been right. She was not alone, but she had wanted someone to sit down.*
*I have sat down.*
**Staff response:** Thank you for your comment. The gallery is closed for the autumn rehang. The painting has been moved to conservation.