Dame Mary Donaldson was the 656th Lord Mayor of the City of London and the first woman elected to the position in its more than 800 year history. Dame Fiona Woolf was the 686th Lord Mayor and only the second woman to hold the position. By coincidence, portraits of the two women were painted by the same artist, Richard Stone.

But where are the portraits of the other 684 Lord Mayors in a role which began 825 years ago? If you do happen to come across them in various livery halls, the Mansion House, Guildhall Art Gallery or other City institutions, there is virtually no information about the portrait, the subject or the artist.

Inspired by this fact, this book explores the tradition of commissioning artists to paint portraits of Lord Mayors, looks at the wide variety of resulting portraits with comments from some of the artists and talks about each Lord Mayor’s time in office.

Going back before 1983 seemed a step too far, but commemorating Lord Mayors by creating a book of portraits beginning with the first female Lord Mayor, Dame Mary, and ending with Dame Fiona and focusing on the other Lord Mayors in between, seemed a distinct possibility.

And here is the result. A fascinating, informative, beautifully designed, high quality publication written by people who know the City of London inside and out: Nicholas Woolf, Robert Woolf and Alexandra Epps.

To purchase a copy of the book please click on the button below or visit www.artandlife.co.uk. Price £12 plus £2.50 P&P.