Therefore, when Toby came home in 2022 to study for his finals, I took the opportunity to update the portrait. I changed his clothes and his hair colour, which at that time was pink.

I usually paint street scenes, which is perhaps why the dining room figures so prominently in this portrait. I do prefer to capture people doing things, as they are often more natural in their posture. I also don’t try to choregraph the scenes I paint; I tend to paint what I see. The act of creating this painting helped me to commit the moment to memory.'

The sitter says: 'It is strange that my portrait will remain in College now that I have left. However, as students, we walked past the exhibition all the time, so it would have been quite odd to have it hanging whilst I was a student. I am not sure how I feel about being captured with pink hair; I only dyed it for the Girton Ball but now my lasting image at Girton will be with pink hair. Having the portrait updated did give me the opportunity to request that the Pirton — the combined Girton and Pembroke College rugby team — cap be included.

I am used to Dad painting me, so it was not unusual experience. However, it was a bit annoying at times — I was conscious of being observed and sometimes he asked me to hold various poses, so I could never fully lose myself in my revision.

At the unveiling of the portrait Professor Dame Marilyn Strathern commented on how much she liked the paper files. It only occurred to me afterwards that some of the papers I used while revising for my finals would have been written by her. It seems very serendipitous that she might have been commenting on her own papers!'