In 1899, London was enraptured by a bold new artist who'd thrown off centuries of convention: Isadora Duncan. At the age of 21 she'd left her native San Francisco and moved to London to pursue life as a dancer, where she threw off the confines of traditional ballet and created an astonishing new style of movement and performance, dazzling the public. 'It was not long before the phenomenon of a young woman dancing barefoot, as scantily clad as a woodland nymph, crowded theatres and concert halls throughout Europe,' reads her entry in Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Isadora Duncan, the artist recognised as the pioneer of contemporary dance, photographed in around 1905. (Image credit: Getty Images)

Duncan's performances weren't limited to just the stage, however: she'd made her home in a recent

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