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Portrait of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge
Artist	Paul Emsley
Year	2012
Type	Portrait
Location	National Portrait Gallery, London

Portrait of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge is the first official portrait of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery, London on 11 January 2013. Paul Emsley was commissioned to paint the Duchess after being selected from a shortlist by Catherine herself. Catherine had announced the National Portrait Gallery as one of her official patronages in January 2012. Emsley took 15 weeks to complete the painting, which was presented to the trustees of the gallery in November 2012.

Description

Emsley, noted for his striking portraits, was keen to capture Catherine's "charm, serenity and intelligence" and "sparkling green eyes". It took him some 15 weeks to complete; the Duchess sat for him twice in May and June at the artist's studio in Bradford-upon-Avon and at Kensington Palace, and he used photographs to assist him. According to Emsley, Catherine had asked for herself to be painted "naturally – her natural self – as opposed to her official self." It shows Catherine wearing a bottle green pussy bow blouse, looking straight out from the picture, smirking, rather than grinning. Emsley darkened the eyes slightly to match her tunic; the background is also shaded in a similar hue of dark green. Emsley was also keen to draw attention to the rich texture of her hair. Emsley also said, "I don't have lots of things in the background. I do like large faces, I find them strong and contemporary. I'm interested in the landscape of the face, the way in which light and shadow fall across the forms. That's really my subject matter. To have anything else in there is really just an interference."

The portrait was completed before November 2012, when it was presented to the trustees of the gallery. The portrait is on display on the wall of Room 37 on the ground floor of the National Portrait Gallery, next to a video of a sleeping David Beckham. It was donated to the gallery by Sir Hugh Legatt.

Reception

The painting received considerable press attention on its day of unveiling from photographers, cameramen, reporters, and art critics and lovers. The portrait divided critics, seen in a negative light by many. Some critics believed that the shading below her eyes and her jawline aged her. Waldemar Januszczak of the Sunday Times described the portrait as "disappointing", saying that it was "pretty ordinary... He made her look older than she is and her eyes don't sparkle in the way that they do and there's something rather dour about the face." Robin Simon of the Daily Mail said "Fortunately, the Duchess of Cambridge looks nothing like this in real life. I'm really sad to say this is a rotten portrait." Charlotte Higgins of The Guardian compared the depiction of Kate to a character in the Twilight franchise, saying, "The first thing that strikes you about Middleton's visage as it looms from the sepulchral gloom of her first official portrait is the dead eyes: a vampiric, malevolent glare beneath heavy lids. Then there's the mouth: a tightly pursed, mean little lip-clench (she is, presumably, sucking in her fangs). And god knows what is going on with the washed-out cheeks: she appears to be nurturing a gobbet of gum in her lower right cheek. The hair is dull and lifeless; the glimpse of earring simply lifts her to the status of Sloaney, rather than merely proletarian, undead."

The Duchess, however, was highly praising of the portrait, after viewing it initially in a private family gathering. She remarked, "I thought it was brilliant. It's just amazing. Absolutely brilliant". She particularly praised the nose and mouth. Richard Stone, the most prolific of Royal portrait painters, praised the painting in that it captured Catherine's true warmth, saying "I liked it, very much so. So often with official portraits they can be rather stiff and starchy, but this has a lovely informality about it, and a warmth to it. It was jolly brave of him to paint it well over lifesize, because that's extremely difficult. It's very challenging to do something larger than life, and he seems to have pulled it off very well."

References

1. "Kate chooses five charities ahead of milestone birthday". Hello. 5 January 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2012. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
2. ^ English, Rebecca (11 January 2013). "'Fortunately, she looks nothing like that in real life': 'Rotten' first official portrait of the Duchess of Cambridge by artist Paul Emsley is unveiled". Daily Mail. Retrieved 11 January 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
3. ^ English, Rebecca (11 January 2013). "Duchess of Cambridge given private viewing of her first official portrait. Let's hope she likes it more than the Daily Mail art critic who describes it as 'rotten'". Daily Mail. Retrieved 11 January 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
4. ^ "Kate portrait: First official painting revealed". BBC. 11 January 2013. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
5. Higgins, Charlotte (11 January 2013). "Kate's portrait – straight from the Twilight franchise". Charlotte Higgins on culture. The Guardian. Retrieved 11 January 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

• 2013 in art
• 21st-century portraits
• English paintings
• Portraits of the British Royal Family
• National Portrait Gallery, London
• Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge