A striking new portrait unveiled this week of King Charles was unveiled this week and has split the nation on its look.
Undertaken by leading contemporary artist Jonathan Yeo, it was officially unveiled on Tuesday and marked a stark change from other royal portraits of previous years. The impressive artwork was commissioned in in 2020 to celebrate the then Prince of Wales’s 50 years as a member of The Drapers’ Company and is almost entirely red.
Ahead of the unveiling, Yeo jokingly told the BBC : "If this was seen as treasonous, I could literally pay for it with my head, which would be an appropriate way for a portrait painter to die - to have their head removed!"
Thankfully, he had the seal of approval from the King, and Queen Camilla is said to have looked at the painting and told Yeo: "Yes, you've got him." However there are several details hidden inside people may have missed.
The painting’s sheer size
Hard to tell in some photographs because of the angle taken, but it really is very large. Painted in oil (with plenty of red paint), the painting of the monarch measures 8 ½ feet by 6 ½ feet. The canvas size is said to have been considered to fit within the architecture of Drapers’ Hall and the “context of the paintings it will eventually hang alongside”.
There is no royal insignia to be seen
Believe it or not, this is not a portrait of a King. To explain, this is the image of the patron of The Most Worshipful Company of Drapers, a guild which has medieval origins. It was commissioned to mark Charles’s association with the guild for over 50 years.
In the painting the monarch wears the red coat of the Welsh Guards, the regiment for which he was made regimental colonel in 1975. As a result, there are no royal insignia because this is not the image of a King.
The painting shows glimpse of Charles’ legacy
The painting is the first of the monarch revealed since his coronation last year and shows how the King wishes to create his own visual legacy. In 1980 scholar Stephen Greenblatt said the “self-fashioning” in portraiture means someone’s identity is constructed out of carefully selected details. In other words, when you look at the portrait you don’t see the real image of a person - you see the person’s ideal projection of a carefully curated identity.
It is achingly traditional - just like his mum’s
The portrait follows the long-established convention of showing male monarchs in uniform. Charles is seen in the striking red coat of the Welsh Guards – leaning on the hilt of a ceremonial sword held in front of him as generations before have done. Elsewhere in the hall where this will hang is a portrait of the late Queen. In it, she is depicted in her official uniform for portraiture, the ubiquitous long white gown, worn with a blue sash and the striking blue velvet cloak of the Order of the Garter.
Let’s talk about the butterfly
While his uniform may be traditional, his little friend in the painting is less so. Fluttering above his right shoulder is a little butterfly. The brainchild of the King himself, he planned it as a “conversation starter”. In some corners of the world the butterfly is the symbol for spirituality and new beginnings - with the painting possibly showing he wants to be remembered as a monarch who protects.
Charles had more than five decades to think about his portrait
Every aspect of the portrait will have been carefully considered by the monarch. After all, a King or Queen only has one first portrait and Charles had 50 years waiting for the title.