Victoria Beckham's Old Masters Obsession Continues With An Exhibition Of Female Trailblazers

You might recall that Victoria Beckham discovered a new passion for art curation earlier this year. Her June exhibition of Old Masters paintings in her Dover Street store was not simply a passing partnership with Sotheby’s, but the start of a relationship with the likes of Rubens, Cranach, Larkin and their peers.

“I am excited to learn more about Old Masters,” Beckham told Vogue at the time. And, six months down the line, the designer is showing the fruits of her art history studies by staging installation number two.

Entitled “Female Triumphant”, the December 6-10 in-store showcase includes four works of trailblazing female artists – Angelika Kauffmann, Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, Fede Galizia and Marie-Victoire Lemoine – from Sotheby’s Masters Week, held in New York in January.

"When I heard about Sotheby’s plans for the 'Female Triumphant', I knew immediately I wanted to partner with them again," Beckham shared before the grand unveiling. "These masterworks were created by strong, powerful women and for me that really resonated, as a female designer hoping to empower women through my collections."

In January, Beckham will travel to New York to see the portraits and still lifes first-hand in Sotheby’s and The Frick, the Upper East Side museum that ignited her interest in the works of painters between the 13th and 19th centuries after a visit with her husband. Will the Stateside business involve a larger collaboration that incorporates Beckham's own designs? Is she on a mission to acquire a contrasting piece to the Damien Hirsts, Tracey Emins and Banksys that currently line her walls at home? "I don’t own any Old Masters paintings at the moment but if there ever was a time to be inspired, it would definitely be now," she mused, her status as art novice no more.

“I found it pertinent that one of the most photographed women on the planet would choose paintings that are enduring examples of self-presentation,” Chloe Stead, deputy director specialist of Old Master paintings at Sotheby’s, said of Beckham’s tastes. “The process of recording oneself, in the 15th or 21st century, and the way you would like yourself to be portrayed, must have been interesting to Victoria.” May her journey continue.