If you watched all of the video recording of The Brilliant Brontes in the last but one post you will have seen Sheila Hancock inspecting and discussing the drawings of Jane Eyre with the artist Dame Paula Rego. By coincidence a week later one of the most prominent museums (yes, there are several!) in Cascais turns out to be devoted to the work of Paula Rego (and it has a nice cafe too). Shortly after our arrival we decided to take a walk and investigate.
The Casa das Historias opened in Cascais in 2009
Rego was born in Lisbon in 1935 to keen Anglophile parents who sent their daughter to an Anglican English language school in Lisbon and later to school near Sevenoaks and art school (The Slade) where she met her future husband Victor Willing. She became a naturalised British subject and was created a Dame of the British Empire in 2010. She divides her time between Britain and Portugal.
Here are some of her Jane Eyre works currently on display at the gallery Casa Das Historias in Cascais.
Paula Rego’s Jane Eyre
Paula Rego’s Lithograph Jane Eyre
The Book of the Exhibition
I had no room for the Paula Rego soaps in my luggage!
miladysboudoir 
http://www.facebook.com/paulafigueiroarego
Thank you Barbara! I missed the Bronte TV programme & I’m a little behind with my blog-reading, so it I’ve just had an enjoyable lunch while watching Sheila Hancock’s moving account of life among the Brontes.
I’ve seen one or two of the Paula Rego works in Bradford’s Cartwright Hall. Very interesting and engaging like Paula herself, but, to use the old cliche, I don’t think I could live with them.
You are welcome, Nilly. I also missed the TV airing but thought it excellent when I watched on itvplayer. Nice to think it’ll be around for longer on Youtube, though. I believe the ‘comment’ above with PR’s Facebook link is from her, herself. And I have to agree with your ‘old cliché’ – I couldn’t either. But I liked the incidence of coincidence and you will have noticed that I just reproduced the pictures here. I am no art critic so felt unable to make any comment.