Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has seen a lot during her 90-year life, having reigned for 63 of those years she has also been the subject of many displays of art. Some are your typical predicted portraits, others are, let’s just say, a little more unusual- Her Majesty on a moose for example. Horacio Cordero’s oil painting of The Queen (pictured above) is one portrait you could describe more as an ‘artists interpretation’. Royal Central is taking a look at just some of the marvellous creations of The Queen.
On of the most regal portraits of The Queen came from Italian portrait painter Pietro Annigoni who painted The Queen in her garter robes in 1954-55. The painting is even more rare as Annigoni’s work is not frequently shown in public. The National Portrait Gallery in London has even gone as far as describing it as “one of the greatest royal portraits of the 20th century.”
American artist Andy Warhol was a pop culture phenomenon. In 1985 he included Queen Elizabeth in part of Reigning Queens portfolio using a photo taken of The Queen as part of her Silver Jubilee in 1977. The National Portrait Gallery displayed the screen prints in 2012 for her Diamond Jubilee.
A more unusual twist on The Queen comes from Canadian contemporary artist Charles Pachter. In true Canadian form, he painted Queen Elizabeth on a moose in 1972. Some royal fans were not pleased with the depiction so Pachter sent copies to Buckingham Palace, although he is not sure if they ever reached her.
Two years ago, Pachter did meet Queen Elizabeth in London at the reopening of the Canadian High Commission when he told her he painted her on a moose she simply replied: “Oh, how amusing.”
Royalists were also not pleased with Justin Mortimer’s painting. The 1997 painting drew controversy because The Queen’s head was separate from her body, however, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson praised its modern qualities.
Light artist Chris Levine’s 3D hologram would not have even been possible when Her Majesty first became Queen, but in 2004 he made history with the first 3D image of The Queen. The image was created by using “a high-resolution digital camera which moved along a rail taking 200 images over eight seconds, a 3-D data scanner and a medium format camera which he could use, if necessary, to capture information he could texture-map onto the 3-D data sets. The queen was required to sit still for 8 seconds at a time, and between the passes she closed her eyes to rest.”
Photo Credit: Charles Pachter
