How dashing is this painting?

Lieutenant Colonel Edmund Nugent, Thomas Gainsborough, 1764, Oil on canvas

In the story, Mona needed a friend who was dashing, chivalrous, and larger than life. The romantic ideal in a scarlet officer’s coat. Enter Edmund.

In real life, the painting is nearly eight feet high. It dwarfs the viewer. The subject is sure of himself, elegant, and yet masculine all at once.

I love the idea that the residents are able to expand or contract depending upon the painting they are in. It is fun to think of Edmund being engaged to the tiny Madame Juliette, and yet when they are in the same painting, they are a perfect fit.

He takes up a whole wall!

Edmund is adventurous, but he is also the voice of reason for Mona.

“Do buck up,” Edmund said, patting Mona on the head. “He struck me as an affable chap. Even if he does suspect you are alive, I’m sure he will not break your confidence. That would be most ungentlemanly.” Nothing outraged Edmund more than a loose tongue.

Given his engagement to Madame Juliette, Edmund is also Mona’s romantic ideal.

Edmund, in his red military frock coat with the golden piping and brass buttons, was the epitome of dashing, thanks to his chivalrous eighteenth-century manners and his elegant oak walking stick.

But soon, not even Edmund can reason with Mona, whose desire to live a larger life and be friends with Sargent Singer threatens the gallery residents’ way of life.

I love how artist Ian Shoenhorr dips the Edmund on the cover in red: