The Lady. Acrylic pop art painting
This work reflects an infamous 1974 murder case. Veronica Duncan (Lady Lucan) was married, although separated, to Lord Lucan, a British aristocrat and a notorious gambler known as ‘Lucky Lucan’.
He had run up huge gambling debts.
n0t-so-lucky lucan
One night Lord Lucan hid in Lady Lucan’s dark kitchen and when a woman came in, he hit her from behind, believing it was Lady Lucan. However, it was actually the Nanny, and she was killed.
The not-so-lucky Lord Lucan went on the run and was never seen again. Rumours of suicide or complicity of The Establishment in assisting his escape abounded.
The central portrait in the circle device is Lady Lucan, based on a newspaper photo from the time, celebrating her poise and cool dignity in the face of a media frenzy.
*Artist Doug Kemp with The Lady Painting
The circus generated by the case is represented by the women who appear to be tripping the ‘light fantastic’ or dancing a chaotic jig while entangled in abstract patterns.
Other elements depict different aspects of the case and the ongoing search for Lucan.
These include cars driving in the night, either as a getaway or the search by the police and the media bloodhounds, with a central male figure directing the way in near darkness or could be a representative of a photographic negative.
Lucky Horseshoes
There are also images of a man running away, and two people peering down as if through water, perhaps looking for a body. A man apparently whispering in another’s ear that might represent the gossip feeding the seedier side of the case.
The lucky horseshoes shown were not useful for Lucan’s earlier life but maybe showed their worth to him after the tragic event.
Who was lady Lucan
Lady Lucan’s name was Veronica Duncan. She was married, although separated, to Lord Lucan, a British aristocrat and a notorious gambler who had run up huge gambling debts.
One night in 1974, Lord Lucan hid in Lady Lucan’s dark kitchen and when a woman came in, he hit her from behind, believing it was Lady Lucan. However, sadly it was the Nanny, and the poor soul was dead. The not so lucky Lord Lucan then went on the run and was never seen again.
Lady Lucan died in September 2017, the woman who was born Veronica Duncan in Bournemouth in 1937 was raised in South Africa by her mother and stepfather never wavered in her account of the events of the night of November 7 1974.
Only a few months before she died, she was found with a cocktail of drugs beside her, believing she had Parkinson’s disease, she continued to speak openly about the couple’s abusive marriage, first in an ITV documentary, My Husband, The Truth, and then in a headline-grabbing memoir, A Moment in Time.
In this documentary, she told Lord Lucan attempted to have her institutionalised, hiding her possessions in an effort to convince her she was losing her mind (ultimate “gas-lighting”), she stated he would beat her on the bare bottom in order to drive out “the madness” in her before sexual intercourse.
Read more about the hidden letters and lady Lucan’s final days
A timeline of tragedy – The Lucan marriage that would lead to murder and mystery
November 1963 – Richard John Bingham, soon to be the 7th Earl of Lucan, marries Veronica Duncan at Holy Trinity Church, Brompton, in London’s South Kensington.
End of 1972 – Their marriage collapses and Lord Lucan moves out of the home, loses his battle for custody of their three children, and accumulates gambling losses.
November 7 1974 – The Lucans’ nanny, 29-year-old Sandra Rivett, is bludgeoned to death with a bandaged lead pipe in the dark of the basement kitchen of the Belgravia home while Lady Lucan is upstairs.
When Lady Lucan investigates the commotion, she too is attacked. She manages to escape and, covered in blood, raises the alarm in the nearby Plumbers Arms pub. Lady Lucan soon identifies the attacker as her husband, who has by now disappeared without a trace.
November 10 1974 – Lucan’s borrowed Ford Corsair is found abandoned in East Sussex, spattered with blood. A bandaged lead pipe covered in Rivett’s and Lady Lucan’s DNA is found in the boot.
June 1975 – At an inquest into Rivett’s death, Lucan is named as her killer. Meanwhile, various supposed sightings of him have been reported, including in Australia and France. He pops up everywhere from Guatemala to Iceland, Paraguay to Italy, but is never found.
1999 Lucan’s family is granted probate over his estate, but no death certificate is issued.
February 3 2016 – Lucan’s death certificate is issued after a High Court judge rules he is presumed dead.
June 5 2017 – In an interview for a documentary for ITV, Lady Lucan issues an apology over Rivett’s murder, saying she is “deeply sad” that her own marital problems caused her to die.
September 26 2017 Lady Lucan is found dead at her home at the age of 80, with a pill bottle under her body. She had spent her final years as a recluse.
January 10 2018 – An inquest hears Lady Lucan died from respiratory failure caused by barbiturates and alcohol poisoning.
2019 Letters from Lady Lucan to her solicitor are found under the floorboards of her former west London mews house, shedding new light on her relationship with Lord Lucan.
