The first official portrait of King Charles III has been unveiled. Painted by Alastair Barford, the monarch did not sit for the portrait and instead Barford studied “the King while he was busying himself at a Buckingham Palace reception,” according to the Express.
Header Image credit Alastair Barford/ILN
The portrait was completed in just two weeks’ time, and sees the King in a regular suit, wearing a bracelet presented to him by the Amazon indigenous leader, Domingo Peas.
He was given the bracelet at a global biodiversity event at Buckingham Palace. Barford was also at the event, and used photographs from it as well as sketches he made at the time.
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The portrait is on the cover of the Illustrated London News’ special coronation edition.
“The problem wasn’t so much the lack of painting hours. It was that I felt that as I had such a tight time frame to get the work done in, I felt I had to work on the portrait pretty much all day everyday. I felt guilty if I spent any time not working on the picture! I’m used to having much longer to work on a portrait and this created certain technical problems; an oil painting needs time to dry,” Barford said to The Art Newspaper.
“I also came to realise that the time we spend away from our work, the time we spend thinking about and processing what we are doing but not necessarily painting, is a hugely important part of the process,” he continued.
The UK government has recently unveiled plans to offer a free portrait of the King to every public body nation-wide.
“These new portraits will serve as a visible reminder in buildings up and down the country of the nation’s ultimate public servant,” said Oliver Dowden, the cabinet office minister.
At a cost of £8m, however, the proposals have not been without controversy.
