ONE OF MY HEROINES1

 It may seem odd that my pin-up girl is really a lady who became a celebrity only after  the considerable age of 72,  with amazing eyesight, very dextrous hands and an imagination and skill which were unique in their time and no one else has ever equalled.    She is Mrs.Mary Delany, needlewoman and designer who flourished in her later years as friend and confidant of George III and his wife and produced hundreds of  the most exquisite flower reproductions in paper, cut and painted by herself in the most  accomplished way and which have never been equalled in skill and charm.    After an unhappy first marriage and then a very successful one to Mr. Delany she retired to Ireland and but kept an address in London.  She was extremely popular in Court circles and a friend of Mr. Samuel Pepys and I illustrate here a coverlet she made in white corded embroidery which I believe she made for him.  I find this a really beautiful creation and have kept this auction catalogue picture for many years as something that gives me pleasure every time I look at it.  Her three hundred or so flower creations (accurate in every detail of bud, stem and leaf,) are in the British Museum,and you can Google for much more info. about this remarkable old lady.