Off to Southampton City Art Gallery today to have a look at Sophonisba Anguissola’s 1555 portrait of her sister Elena in her Benedictine habit. It’s not on display, and the curator has to lead me down into the vaults. Spooky. It’s not a perfect match – Corpus Christi was a Clarissan house – but at least it will give me ideas for the chorus’s costumes. But the portrait is beautiful, and so is Elena, with her sad, peaceful face. She has this neat little peak in her veil that might, or might not, be difficult to reproduce, and huge, wide turnbacks on her sleeves. That will look nice, but I hope they won’t interfere with harp and/or lute playing.