Lady Cosgrove

Portrait of Lady Hazel Cosgrove. Commissioned to celebrate the career of Scotland's first woman to be appointed as a Senator of the College of Justice, a judge of Scotland's Supreme Courts. The picture hangs in the Reading Room at Parliament House.
I have in mind here to show Hazel in her role as Judge with the formal dignity intrinsic to the position. Also to reveal her femininity which could be smothered by the ritual robes.
The books on the table show the year that she began her career and the year she retired. On the wall is a picture of lady Cosgrove and her husband celebrating her graduation.
The composition of the painting is influenced by Whistler's "Arrangement in Grey and Black: The Artist's Mother"