Elizabeth and Mary Linley

Based on 'Elizabeth and Mary Linley' 1772 by Thomas Gainsborough DPG320 in Dulwich Picture Gallery. Gainsborough's girls were in costly clothes holding objects representing their musical careers. He set them in a symbolic spring landscape. Stik has represented only the relationship between the girls. Elizabeth leans casually on Mary's shoulder, gazing into the distance. Mary engages with us, the viewers. The are comfortable wilth each other, but in their own separate worlds. It is this, not their youth, beauty or talents, that Stik encapsulates.