Photograph at chest height, square on to a striking woman in her forties with silver-grey hair cropped short and strong brows, high fashion casting, standing dead centre. The ground is a saturated cobalt seamless lit hard from behind her so it blooms pale directly behind the head and shoulders and deepens to full strength in the corners, matte and featureless. The garment is unlit and black to the eye, one flat cut shape whose edge against the cobalt is one unbroken line — a long-pile hooded coat swallowing the head and shoulders into one mass, falling straight to the bottom edge. One small hard frontal source reaches only the collarbone, the shoulder caps and the tops of the cheeks, everything beyond falling to unlit black, the falloff hard across a few centimetres. Wet specular sheen on the collarbone. A cerise duchess satin bodice is the one colour note. Copper liner swept to the temple. One contrast-coloured leather glove and a flat metal bangle. Arms hanging straight and still, hands open, absolutely frontal. Imperious and squared up, chin level, eyes straight down the lens, mouth closed.