AN ARTIST’S muse who, along with a young Cherie Blair, posed for one of the country’s leading figurative painters has visited Abbot Hall to see herself on canvas.

Georgia Georgialis, who modelled for her close friend and former art tutor, the late Euan Uglow, is one of the many muses who have come out of the woodwork to view the posthumous exhibition Controlled Passion.

Publicity officer for Abbot Hall, Sandy Kitching, said the collection by the artist renowned for being meticulous and methodical had pulled in many former models but as yet his most famous subject had not turned up.

“Eight models have made themselves known to us during the exhibition. Cherie Blair has not, yet! We haven’t had any news from the Blairs but it would be lovely if they could visit the exhibition,” she said.

An artist herself, Georgialis remained tight-lipped about the then Cherie Booth who also posed for Uglow during the Seventies.

Word of the secret life study of the premier’s wife, an unfinished work done while she was a young law student, sparked a media frenzy when word got out after Uglow’s death from cancer in 2000.

Georgialis, who posed for Georgia for five years, said it was strange to see the paintings, many owned by private collectors and rarely seen in one exhibition.

“It’s quite weird. I have seen them all as they have been worked on and progressed from nothing. It’s strange because I get quite possessive about them, you feel as though you own a stake in them”.

Controlled Passion runs until tomorrow, Saturday, October 11, and there is a last chance to see the exhibition from 10.30am-5pm. For further information, call 01539-722464.