Emma Hamilton exhibition, National Maritime Museum

She is remembered as the great beauty who stole the heart of Lord Nelson. But there is more to Lady Emma Hamilton than her scandalous affair or exquisite looks. Her life, brimming with adventure and tinged with tragedy, is the subject of a landmark exhibition at the National Maritime Museum, opening this November.

At a time when women were kept behind closed doors, the outspoken Lady Hamilton took polite European society by storm. She was a sensation: the daughter of a blacksmith who was plucked from seedy Covent Garden to become an artist's model, and then performance artist. Her affair with Nelson scandalised Europe. His death destroyed her and she died destitute and alone.

The exhibition brings together a wealth of paintings, personal letters, prints and caricatures, costume and jewellery. Highlights from the exhibition include exceptional fine art by George Romney, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir Thomas Lawrence, love letters, rings and songbooks. A wonderful window into a vanished world.