I have made many notes and some sketches though, so I may not forget a single detail of the otherworldly beauty which I was blessed to witness that night. The work is of a woman sleeping in a chair wearing a splendid yellow gown. Her feet are tucked up underneath her as she sleeps, her faithful dog at her feet, and also her writing desk and pen and journal. She has the most extraordinary Indian shawl of a gold and orange threaded design wrapped about her, and her golden hair is loose upon her shoulders as if she floats upon a lake. It is ethereal in its presentation of the beautiful subject reminiscent of a goddess at her slumber, dreaming of things only a goddess would dream. Sir Tristan shared with me that the subject is none other than Lady Rothvale herself, painted shortly after her marriage to Lord Rothvale in the year of our lord, eighteen and twelve, more than fifty years ago. His love for her is there in the paint, Augusta. It is as clear to see even if the person who looked at it were nearly blind already. Sir Tristan told me he painted her in June on a summer’s day when her husband happened upon her by chance and decided he would like to have it as a portrait of his beloved bride. A boy was sent with a message to bring Sir Tristan immediately to the house where he set about taking over from Lord Rothvale’s preliminary sketching onto a canvas where the initial shape and form of her was put down already by his hand. Lord Rothvale discovered her asleep in her pose and then had the forethought to have Sir Tristan set it on canvas in his masterful hand. Sir Tristan told me that he never even spoke to his friend about what he was to do on the day. It was an unworded understanding between the two men. He simply entered the solarium where Lady Rothvale was sleeping and knew exactly what he was being tasked to do. They also had no wish to awaken her, so they remained silent as they worked at a furious pace. Sir Tristan told me Lady Rothvale slept on for such time as the two of them were able to get enough of her form drawn that first day to finish the portrait from later sittings he arranged with her. He called his painting, “Sleeping Imogene” when he presented it to me, and I could sense his deep attachment to this singular work as a very special one to the great man himself. Lady Rothvale is called Imogene by her Christian name. He said it with such affection and remembrance of love it was apparent to me, even in my novice days as an artist, of the deep friendship and bond of love between them.

It was truly “something of the marvelous” my darling, to quote the words of another, Aristotle, I believe. I only wish you could have seen it with your own eyes. I know you would have appreciated the beauty and magic the portrait evokes upon the eye and within the heart.