About the sitter: ‘I first met Libby Sheldon when I was studying picture conservation at the Courtauld Institute of Art – a rather circuitous route into portrait painting perhaps, but one which provided a useful grounding in the materials and techniques of the Old Masters. It is these materials and techniques that Libby studies, using scientific methods to establish which pigments were used in a particular painting, for example. This can be fascinating not only for learning about artists’ techniques, but also for establishing the age or authenticity of a painting. Her research interests are wide, ranging from the Tudor and Stuart painters to Lowry, by way of Vermeer and Cuyp. The postcard in the background shows a favourite painting of hers, a portrait of Danish artist Frederick Sødring by friend and fellow artist Christian Købke.