The model for these portraits is a direct descendant of Madame du Barry, the famous courtesan of Louis XIV of France. This series plays on the tradition of honorific portraiture and the iconography of the French Court, whilst also referencing the dark pathology of eating disorders so prevalent in contemporary society.

Madame du Barry was amongst those beheaded at Place de la Concorde during the French Revolution. Members of the court, such as Marie Antoinette and Louis prided themselves on meeting their bloody ends stoically, seeking to retain as much royal decorum as possible before the baying mobs.  

Not Madame du Barry however. The female artist Vigée-Lebrun, who knew Madame du Barry well and painted her several times later recalled:

‘Madame Du Barry … is the only woman, among all the women who perished in the dreadful days, who could not stand the sight of the scaffold. She screamed, she begged mercy of the horrible crowd that stood around the scaffold, she aroused them to such a point that the executioner grew anxious and hastened to complete his task." 

Du Barry's final words were "Just one moment more please Mr Executioner, one moment more..."