Can someone remind me who this painting is by? I should know!
Last Saturday was apparently Siblings Day, a day my siblings
and I treat (when we’re even aware of it) with deep irony. I’m not sure it’s a celebration
that Hippolyta would cherish.
Hippolyta is the youngest of six children, with three brothers
and two sisters. Like her, the sisters have unusual names – Galatea and Sophronia
– but we’ve only so far met Marcus, the youngest brother. The boys have all
followed their father into the legal profession, while Galatea has also married
a man of law. Sophronia is also married, and both sisters have provided
Hippolyta with nieces and nephews, though as she was a late arrival the nieces
and nephews are quite close to her own age. We’ve seen in Death of a False Physician
how Galatea – and by implication Sophronia too – treats Hippolyta as an
ignorant schoolgirl, following the example of their mother. This is, for
Hippolyta, one very good reason to live in Ballater and not back in Edinburgh
with the rest of the family.
None of the brothers is married, and Marcus, who actually
quite enjoys visiting his little sister on Deeside, is a little too feckless to
settle down just yet. His interests flit about from day to day, and Hippolyta
often feels like his big sister instead of his younger sibling.
Hippolyta is, if she had to admit it, very fond of all her
siblings, sometimes in a slightly desperate, youngest wanting to be noticed,
way. But it is much easier for her to feel like a proper grown-up wife and
mother when none of them is around – not, I would suggest, an uncommon feeling!
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