An Iron Lady: The Legacy Paintings 7th - 12th October at Noho Studios, 46 Great Titchfield Street, London, W1W 7QA.

The exhibition featured a monumental portrait of Mrs Thatcher, In Memoriam, alongside a series titled The Legacy Paintings comprising of seven four-foot paintings which together explore her impact on UK politics and how she is regarded today, through Warholian repetition.

In Memoriam (136 x 111 cm) is the second of two large-scale paintings of Margaret Thatcher, by the renowned British artist Lorna May Wadsworth, who was the last person to paint Thatcher from life. Both paintings are the result of a series of five sittings, which Wadsworth had with Thatcher in July 2007. ‘Baroness Thatcher’ (183 x 183 cm) was the first to be completed and now hangs in the Conservative Party’s Campaign Headquarters, appropriately in the Thatcher Room.

At the time, the renowned art dealer and TV presenter Philip Mould acclaimed the work to be “the boldest formal portrait of a Prime Minister ever painted in Britain.”

However, Mrs Thatcher thought her expression in the painting was “rather fierce”, so Wadsworth used her final sitting to make a portrait which would transcend her own preconceived image of the ‘Iron Lady’; as she had been dubbed by a Russian journalist during the Soviet era, which became a nickname she was forever associated, due to her uncompromising politics and style of leadership.

Responding to her subject’s comment and after spending time in with Mrs Thatcher at her home in London’s Chester Square, Wadsworth was inspired to paint In Memoriam, which she completed in 2015. The painting has never been seen in public before – until now.

The Legacy Paintings are being auctioned online from noon Sunday 5th October - noon Sunday 19th October at https://app.galabid.com/the-legacy-paintings