Dorothy Braund’s ‘Christine Keeler (Profumo)’ is a portrait about more than meets the eye. Its subject is Christine Keeler – the young model at the centre of the infamous British scandal, the ‘Profumo affair’. The year was 1961 and the Cold War was in full-swing; Keeler, a then nineteen-year aspiring model, had commenced an affair with John Profumo, the married 46 year-old Secretary of State for War whom she had met through socialite and osteopath, Stephen Ward.

As rumours percolated, Profumo publicly denied the accusations but a police investigation found him to be lying, causing intense embarrassment and contributing to the resignation of both he and the Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. What’s more is that while Keeler was entangled with Profumo, she was also having an affair with Soviet naval attache Captain Yevgeny Ivanov, sparking panic around national security. It was suggested that Keeler was extracting and passing military secrets via the bedroom.

Except for the tabloids, there were no winners in the ‘Profumo affair’. After being disgraced, Profumo slowly rebuilt a shadow of his reputation. Ward, while on trial for living off immoral earnings killed himself while Keeler spent the rest of her life chronically retelling the tale, shifting the facts with each confession. She remained caught in that perfect storm, forever trapped in a scandal set in the shadowy, suspicion-fuelled highlife of 1960s Soho.

Dorothy Braund distils this sense in her portrait. Keeler looks down and away from the viewer, an unreadable beauty beneath thick mod-ish eyelashes. Under Braund, she is glamorous and reticent, an icon for collectors of important portraits, historical art and modernism.

Dorothy BRAUND (1926 - 2013)
'Christine Keeler, Profumo'
Oil on canvas
Image Size: 41 x 30 cm
Dimensions: 55 x 45 x 5 cm
Signed: Unsigned
Comes with Letter of Provenance

Condition: Good: Some cracking on paint throughout work, commensurate with age and does not detract from the works overall look. Please reach out if you would like to explore the available conservation options. 

(c) Dorothy Braund / Copyright Agency