This photograph, entitled 'Rear Window (Dinner)', was made by the London-based artist, Maisie Broadhead. It offers a glimpse through a window framed by net curtains, into a domestic interior in which a woman stands next to a table set for two. Her posture is impassive, her face is expressionless, as she surveys the aftermath of a violent encounter. One of the dining table chairs has toppled onto the floor, the place setting is in disarray, red wine is leaking across the tablecloth from a toppled goblet. There is a plate of food upturned on the floor.

However, at the very heart of the photograph is a picture within a picture: hanging from the wall immediately above the table is a seascape almost exactly resembling a painting in RMG’s collection by Willem van de Velde the Younger (BHC0906). The picture of the Van de Velde shipwreck promises to be the key to unlocking the narrative that has just unfolded, and yet it remains tantalizing elusive, inviting the viewer to fill in the gaps. Ambiguity is a recurrent theme in Broadhead’s work, as the artist has said: ‘There is no easy narrative. As with real neighbours, in the glimpses we have into each other’s lives, knowledge is partial, obscured by our own preconceptions.’

The frame around the photograph is rather unusual: this is evocative of a Victorian sash window and contributes to the narrative of the viewer peering in through the window at this scene of domestic discord. Indeed, the title of the piece – 'Rear Window (Dinner)' - is a deliberate reference to the cinematography of Alfred Hitchcock.

'Rear Window (Dinner)' is one of five sculptural installation photographic pieces that were commissioned for a major show at the UK’s National Glass Centre in 2019. RMG acquired this piece in 2023.