To coincide with the British Museum’s Bayeux Tapestry exhibition, Tatler asked Bob Venables to produce a set of illustrations that echo the look of the original embroidery while focusing on its modern heirs. The magazine selected twenty‑five descendants across twelve families, with the portraits arranged over three double‑page spreads.
With his knack for pastiche, Bob approached the project as a kind of trompe‑l’oeil tapestry. Each person appears in the outfit suggested by Tatler, with small accompanying details - castles, books, and other references, woven into the layouts to reflect their family histories.
Although the illustrations run across separate spreads, they were designed as one continuous piece, giving the feature a single thread that ties the past to the present.
