A MAJOR exhibition at the Bowes Museum exploring The English Rose opens next month prompted by a portrait of a beauty at the court of Charles I.

Painted by Sir Anthony Van Dyke in about 1637, Olivia, Mrs Endymion Porter is one of his finest female portraits.

The subject was lady-in-waiting to Queen Henrietta Maria whose portrait also features in The English Rose – Feminine Beauty from Van Dyck to Sargent, spanning 400 years of society beauties.

Themes will centre on artists, their sitters and fashions from the 17th to the 20th Centuries.

Along with two Van Dyck portraits will be paintings by Gainsborough, Reynolds, George Romney, John Singer Sargent and Peter Lely loaned from galleries around the UK.

They include a portrait by Gainsborough of the celebrated actress Mrs Sarah Siddons, famous for her Lady Macbeth. The artist is said to have experienced such difficulties with her nose he exclaimed: "Confound the nose, there’s no end to it."

Van Dyck's portrait of Dame Olivia Porter comes via the Arts Council in lieu of a £2.8m inheritance tax from the estate of the Duke of Northumberland.

Commissioned by her husband, it shows her in shift and pearls, demonstrating his wealth, status and prestige by the fact that he could afford to engage the King’s painter.

Gainsborough also painted Elizabeth and Mary Linley of the musical family known as The Nest of the Nightingales. It is the only known painting depicting both sisters together.

Elizabeth was betrothed to a man of her father’s choice who fought a duel with a penniless Richard Brinsley Sheridan, soon to become a leading playwright, with the latter eventually winning her hand. The sisters performed for royalty and at Covent Garden but were forbidden to sing in public after marriage.

Mary Beale, one of the few female artists of the 17th Century, is represented in a self portrait c1675. Holding a palette, it depicts a woman determined to challenge society’s intended role for her.

The English Rose – Feminine Beauty from Van Dyck to Sargent opens on May 14 and runs until September 25.

In the summer the focus shifts from beautiful faces to feet with Shoes: Pleasure and Pain. Organised by the V&A, it will display more than 200 pairs of men’s and women’s shoes by 70 designers including Christian Louboutin, Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo, Christian Dior and Prada.

The museum is the only UK venue outside London to stage the show which will feature shoes worn by or associated with famous people including David Beckham, Sarah Jessica Parker, Daphne Guinness, Queen Victoria and Kylie Minogue.

It will also explore extreme footwear such as tiny 19th Century lotus shoes made for the Chinese tradition of foot binding.

Joanna Hashagen, curator of fashion and textiles, said: “The shoes will be exhibited thematically not chronologically. Each section will be a visual cornucopia of different shapes, styles, materials and colours. They are presented as very beautiful objects, many telling fascinating stories.”

The exhibition runs from June 11 to October 9 before touring the US and China.

A British Museum Spotlight Tour – From Temple to Home: Celebrating Ganesha runs from May 21 to September 18. On tour from the British Museum, it centres on a sculpture of the elephant-headed god Ganesha. Costumes, interactive and craft activities make it suitable for the family.