LONDON.- The king Charles III unveil his first portrait completed since he assumed the throne, a vivid image showing him in the bright red uniform of the Welsh Guards against a background of similar hues.
The enormous painting of artist Jonathan Yeo shows the king with his hands clasped on the hilt of his sword and a butterfly fluttering over his right shoulder. The monarch saw the canvas for the first time on Tuesday -May 14- at Buckingham Palace.
Sessions with Charles III
Yeo began the portrait more than a year before Charles III became king, with a sitting at the then Prince of Wales’s Highgrove estate in June 2021. The last sitting took place in November 2023 at Clarence House, one of the king’s residences in London.
When I started this project, His Majesty The King was still His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, and like the butterfly I painted fluttering on his shoulder, this portrait has evolved as the role of the subject has transformed in our lives. public, Yeo noted.
The portrait, which measures approximately 2.59 meters (8.5 feet) by 1.98 meters (6.5 feet), will be on display at the Philip Mold Gallery in London from May 16 to June 14. Starting in late August, it will be on display at Drapers Hall, across town.
The painting was commissioned to celebrate Charles’s 50 years as a member of The Drapers Company, created more than 600 years ago as an association of wool merchants.
Philanthropy became part of its mission and the company is now a grant-making body.
FUENTE: AP
