The King has a new portrait

[YaMuvva]

Maybe it’s because I know nothing about art but my initials thoughts are…”Huh”

From the artist:
"It was a privilege and pleasure to have been commissioned by The Drapers' Company to paint this portrait of His Majesty The King, the first to be unveiled since his Coronation. When I started this project, His Majesty The King was still His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, and much like the butterfly I've painted hovering over his shoulder, this portrait has evolved as the subject's role in our public life has transformed. I do my best to capture the life experiences and humanity etched into any individual sitter's face, and I hope that is what I have achieved in this portrait. To try and capture that for His Majesty The King, who occupies such a unique role, was both a tremendous professional challenge, and one which I thoroughly enjoyed and am immensely grateful for."

So faux outrage it is then !

Like others, I was not sure about the oil painting of the Princess of Wales shown earlier. It seems, maybe, a little 'muddy' and generic. But the same artist also drew a lovely, delicate, characterful likeness of her with black chalk.

You are implying I am either mad and have mental health problems or I don't care about what I've posted about. Please don't apply your binary thinking to me. Once again, you can't stop yourself with your unpleasant attitude towards mental health.

It was photographer Cecil Beaton's official Jubilee portrait!

That makes me feel claustrophobic.

I'm not going to pick a fight with you so let's leave it there - I made it quite clear that being called utterly disgusting upset me and I have had many kind PM's so it's probably for the best we don't interact or if you do please do it in a respectful manner. I don't do agressive and I beleive it is against the spirit of the site. From what I have seen on some threads here there are far more egregrious examples of intemperence to take aim at.

Yes. A photograph. Thanks for confirming.

Are you saying photographers don't count as artists? I'd disagree.

If you want to have a respectful conversation, stop implying that people who disagree with you either have mental health problems or are lying about their opinions.

Depends of the photograph. What it is taken for. Whether it is meant to be a form of artistic expression. Whether it's conveying a story or a message. Beaton's photographic portraits of the royals are (sometimes) beautiful and he often got the sort of rapport with his subjects to capture them at their best, but I'm not sure I would call them artistic expression as such. I'm not sure they are telling me anything more than, "This is a nice picture of X". I totally accept you may think differently.

As for the picture, which beats the one received recently hands down, I wasn’t sure at the start.

It is growing on me. It is fairly striking.

Thanks for the homily so let's respectfully ignore each other as well. I never report people as I don't believe in snitching. But there seems to be quite a lot of anger here - it's never healthy and not something I ever do bar the occasional road rage that passes. It makes for a calm and pleasant life. Have a nice night !

No anger here. I don’t care for it.

I’m not sure why you are having a pop at me.

The last person who suggested that ‘we respectfully ignore eachother’ was also of the opinion that everything I wrote was about them.

They were wrong too.

If, however, you’ve been in South Park too, I could see how there could be a misunderstanding.

But I doubt it.

I don’t think many things could have been worse.

It was just all wrong.

I felt a real sense of dismay looking at the lumpen Diana statue when it was unveiled. It just felt like nobody involved cared enough to make sure her beauty was captured.

Not quite.

https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw288622/Queen-Elizabeth-II-God-Save-the-Queen

It really doesn't.

Says the poster who called me Paranoid two days ago. I let it go at the time.

I love the painting. The artist has flattered Charles little bit around the chin/jaw I think but it’s a great painting, imo. He looks strong.

The problem I see, rightly or wrongly, is the red. Perhaps it’s more pink in real life. It brings up another story. And yes, it was a gross invasion of privacy but the story is out there, and an official portrait of the British Monarch is going to be a reminder of it for a long time.

I can’t help but think the same effect in a blue or green would have been a better choice.

But love the painting.

Also I like the chalk drawing of Kate. Her eyes are very expressive.

It drums up images from chaotic songs to me !
Anyone got any Vera's? Lovely!

King Charles has never looked directly at me with a still, sober, un-speaking face.

Usually I see him reaching out, speaking, side-face, turning et cetera, because I usually see him on the move, on TV.

So it's a bit different. "Could you just keep still for a few seconds, Sir, and look this way, so we can compare the real life you with the pink portrait you. Thanks."

I've convinced myself there's a corgi at the bottom right. As I can see Henry Miller in one of our bathroom tiles, I wouldn't listen to me, though!

There’s loads of stuff painted into the background subtly.
The more red looking picture they’re harder to see, but the pinkish looking pic still from the video you can see them more clearly

I laughed myself sick over this. Even the sculptor denied responsibility:
https://nypost.com/2024/03/27/world-news/controversial-prince-philip-statue-to-be-removed-from-cambridge/