BP Portrait Award 2018 at the National Portrait Gallery, 14th June to 23rd September 2018

An Angel at my Table by Miriam Escofet is a worthy winner of the BP Portrait Award for 2018. But all is not what it seems in this painting. There are clues that something else is going on. Why is the statuette blurred and the tea plate have a double image? And who is the second cup meant for? To my eye, this is a painting with a hidden narrative that has so far gone unremarked.