The Queen & I As the Diamond Jubilee fast approaches, galleries across the UK are displaying portraits of Queen
Elizabeth painted at all stages of her 60-year reign. We discover the stories behind five of the best WORDS: STEVE PILL
Pietro Annigoni Queen Elizabeth II, 1969
ABOVE Milanese painter Pietro Annigoni is perhaps best known for two very contrasting depictions of Queen Elizabeth II. His romanticised 1955 portrait was more popular with the public, but The Queen clearly approved of this later approach – in 2006, she bought the original pastel and oil study it was based upon for an undisclosed sum. “I saw her as a monarch alone in the problems of her responsibility,” he said.
SEE IT… 17 May to 21 October, The Queen: Art and Image, National Portrait Gallery, London
28 Artists & Illustrators
Susan Ryder HM The Queen, 1997
ABOVE RIGHT Susan Ryder already had Royal pedigree when the RAC asked her to paint The Queen in 1996 – The Prince of Wales had also commissioned the artist to create a portrait of Princess Diana in her wedding dress some 15 years previously. The artist had just five sittings with Her
Majesty, who she portrayed on a gilt chair in Buckingham Palace’s Yellow Drawing Room.
SEE IT… 3-18 May, The Royal Society of Portrait Painters’ Annual Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
© SUSAN RYDER; © NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, LONDON; THE ROYAL COLLECTION © LUCIAN FREUD
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