In 1791 artist Marie-Guillemine Benoist set out to defy expectations, to prove to all of Paris that a woman could indeed “compose history paintings.” Exhibiting Psyche Bidding Her Family Farewell at that year’s Salon, the official exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, she became the first woman to show a history painting that is, a scene from literature, mythology, history, or the Bible in the great exhibition, marking the recognition of artists among their peers. La Béquille de .
In episode three, the debutantes and suitors have gathered at Somerset House to see the Royal Academy’s summer exhibition. The brooding Duke of Hastings, it turns out, is also a patron of the arts and has donated a trove of family paintings to the exhibition.
In the scene, Daphne and Simon share a moment of intimacy while gazing at a landscape that once belonged to Simon’s late mother. “The other paintings are certainly very grand and impressive, but this one… this one is intimate,” Daphne remarks. Standing side by side, their hands briefly touch a forbidden caress for those yet to be wed.