The Sugar-Plum Fairy (2002)

Oil on canvas, 65x45cm

The portrait of the Sugar-Plum Fairy is actually based on a photograph of a raver in a club (apologies to Martine for shamelessly ripping this off), but it seemed to fit, and the lighting was perfect. In the lower half of the painting, there is a picture of Margot Fonteyn and Robert Helpman as the Sugar Plum Fairy and her cavalier, from the Vic Wells Ballet, 1937, on top of the Snowflakes from the original Maryinsky production. In the lower centre is another illustration by Bertall, of Herr Drosselmeyer, and, to the right, George Balanchine in rehearsals with the NYC Ballet.

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©copyright 2005 Nicholas Middleton