Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Find out how to listen to other BBC stations

Episode details

Radio 3,12 Feb 2013,15 mins

SeriesListener, They Wore It

Empress Elizabeth's Diamonds

The Essay

Available for over a year

For a second time, five writers were invited to think about an item of clothing or an accessory that figures memorably in a work of art, be it in a book or film or painting. So Julian Barnes describes a particular hat, Daisy Goodwin thinks about diamonds, Michael Bracewell remembers a vivid suit. Then Antonia Quirke muses on a spy's coat and a white shirt sported by a rock-star is recalled by Susannah Frankel... Daisy Goodwin is wowed by a set of stones that adorn Empress Elizabeth of Austria, in a portrait by Winterhalter. The portrait also has a tale to tell.. Producer Duncan Minshull.

Programme Website
More episodes