"The dance at the Nettlefold's in the New Hall. I had a most delightful time. Mama once said I should not dance more than 3 times with anyone. I really cant say how it came about but I danced 5 times with John."
There don't seem to be any images of what the Nettlefold's (John's parents) home would have looked like, so I have decided to take some artistic license and set the dance at Highbury Hall. They no doubt would have attended dances there and the interior is highly decorative and fits well with the aesthetic of the other prints (particularly the Art School at Margaret Street which was designed by the same architect as Highbury). So I have used some of the photos I took on Heritage Open day, which will form the background.
I have found some illustrations of dancers from the time (no photos unfortunately) and of course images of John and Margaret themselves. Mr Cumberbatch is proving very useful as a stand in for John (as there are only formal portraits of John at this time).
So my initial sketch of the print looks like this:
I may use the passion flower design from Highbury Hall as the border motif for this print.
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