08/24/2026
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According to the inscription, this painting shows ‘Two Ladies of the Cholmondeley Family, Who were born the same day, Married the same day, And brought to Bed [gave birth] the same day’. 👭
To mark this event, in this painting they are formally presented in bed, their babies wrapped in scarlet fabric. Identical at first glance, the lace, jewellery and eye colours of the ladies and infants are in fact carefully differentiated. Study their differences up close at Tate Britain in our free display: Historic and Modern British Art: Exiles and Dynasties: 1545–1640.
👭 Unknown artist, Britain, The Cholmondeley Ladies, c.1600–10. Tate collection. Presented anonymously 1955
