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Portrait of Henrietta Moraes

Henrietta Moraes

1931 – 1999

British artists' model

Historian Memoirist Model (art)
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About Henrietta Moraes

Lived 1931 – 1999 (aged 67). Henrietta Moraes was a British historian, memoirist and model (art).

Henrietta Moraes (born Audrey Wendy Abbott; and in February 2012 Bacon's 1963 Portrait of Henrietta Moraes sold for £21.3 million. Lucian Freud, with whom she had an affair, painted Moraes at least three times, including a celebrated 1953 portrait entitled Girl in a Blanket.

In 1950, she met her first husband, film-maker Michael Law, who bestowed the name Henrietta on her. They set up home in an attic in Dean Street. Her second husband was bodybuilder and actor Norman Bowler. They had two children, Joshua (born 1955) and Caroline, although Joshua was later revealed to be the biological son of Colin Tennant, 3rd Baron Glenconner. This marriage ended in 1956. Later in 1956, she met the 18-year-old Indian poet Dom Moraes. They married in 1961, and they amicably divorced by the mid-1960s.

Into the hippie and drug scenes in the 1960s Moraes was notoriously free-spirited and led a generally hedonistic lifestyle. In the early 1960s, Moraes began to take drugs in addition to her large intake of alcohol. After her death, Tim Hilton speculated that this was the result of sitting through the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem in 1961 together with her journalist husband Dom Moraes, who had been sent there by The Times of India. She left only a handful of possessions and a large pile of unpaid bills.

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Important facts

Family & relationships

Spouse
Dom Moraes
Spouse
Norman Bowler
Partner
Maggi Hambling

People in Henrietta Moraes's life

Named in this biography and alive at the same time

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped Henrietta Moraes's

Frequently asked questions

Who was Henrietta Moraes?

British artists' model

When was Henrietta Moraes born?

Henrietta Moraes was born on 22 May 1931.

When did Henrietta Moraes die?

Henrietta Moraes died on 6 January 1999.

What was Henrietta Moraes's occupation?

Henrietta Moraes was a historian, memoirist and model (art).

What nationality was Henrietta Moraes?

Henrietta Moraes was British.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Henrietta Moraes

· Wikidata: Q16014455

· DBpedia: Henrietta Moraes

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Henrietta Moraes. https://biography.guide/henrietta-moraes/

MLA: "Henrietta Moraes." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/henrietta-moraes/.

Chicago: "Henrietta Moraes." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/henrietta-moraes/.

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