In a stately hall of London's Tate Gallery, paintings of 52 proud and pink-cheeked youths went on display last week. On loan from Eton, they were pictures of senior boys done by the best British portraitists of the 18th and early igth Centuries.
It was customary in those days (until the practice was abolished in the 1860s) for boys leaving Eton to slip £10 or £15 to the headmaster. But seniors deemed Most Likely to Succeed were invited to give portraits of themselves instead.
Painted in lace jabots, powdered wigs and colorful velvet jackets, the 52 on display at the Tate looked boyishly...
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