Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II – An 80th Birthday Portrait
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''Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II – An 80th Birthday Portrait'' is a 2005
oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...
of
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
by
Rolf Harris Rolf Harris (born 30 March 1930) is an Australian entertainer whose career has encompassed work as a musician, singer-songwriter, composer, comedian, actor, painter and television personality. He often used unusual instruments in his performan ...
, commissioned by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
for the Queen's 80th birthday. It was unveiled at the
Queen's Gallery The Queen's Gallery is the main public art gallery of Buckingham Palace, home of the British monarch, in London. It exhibits works of art from the Royal Collection (the bulk of which works have since its opening been regularly displayed, s ...
in
Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...
and publicly displayed there from 2005 to 2006. A BBC television special about its creation, ''The Queen, by Rolf'', was broadcast on
BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...
on 1 January 2006. The painting was voted the second-most-favoured portrait of the Queen by the British public, but it was critically derided. Rolf Harris was a popular entertainer on British TV, and was the presenter of ''
Rolf on Art ''Rolf on Art'' was a British art television series made by the BBC. It was hosted by Rolf Harris, the Australian television presenter. The series began in 2001, and the most recent episode was made in 2007. It was followed by Harris's other art p ...
'', a BBC series on artists. He took two months to complete the portrait; two sittings were held at Buckingham Palace in the summer of 2005, filmed by the BBC; the rest of the painting was completed at Harris' own art studio. The portrait, measuring , is in
oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...
of the Queen wearing a turquoise dress. After he completed the portrait, Harris' reputation as an artist, and the value of his works, increased and he was appointed a
Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(CBE). The award was annulled following his conviction for indecent assault and sexual offences. The ownership and current location of the portrait is unknown.


Background

The painting was commissioned by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, and subsequently unveiled at the
Queen's Gallery The Queen's Gallery is the main public art gallery of Buckingham Palace, home of the British monarch, in London. It exhibits works of art from the Royal Collection (the bulk of which works have since its opening been regularly displayed, s ...
in
Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...
and publicly displayed there from 20 December 2005 to 11 June 2006. A BBC television special about its creation, ''The Queen, by Rolf'', was broadcast on
BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...
on 1 January 2006. Harris had been a popular entertainer and artist for several decades in Britain at the time the portrait was commissioned, and was the presenter of ''
Rolf on Art ''Rolf on Art'' was a British art television series made by the BBC. It was hosted by Rolf Harris, the Australian television presenter. The series began in 2001, and the most recent episode was made in 2007. It was followed by Harris's other art p ...
'', a series of television programmes on notable artists of the past. Harris subsequently said of the Queen that she was "an incredible lady and it was a real pleasure to paint her. The portrait I've created aims to capture the Queen's warm and friendly personality, rather than being a very formal portrait focusing more on her official status." Harris explained to ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...
'' the following year: "I was as nervous as anything. I was in a panic". After he completed the portrait, his reputation as an artist (and the value of his works) increased. He was appointed a
Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(CBE) in 2006. Then, in 2013, he was arrested as part of
Operation Yewtree Operation Yewtree was a British police investigation into sexual abuse allegations, predominantly the abuse of children, against the English media personality Jimmy Savile and others. The investigation, led by the Metropolitan Police Service ( ...
, a police investigation into
child sexual abuse Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whet ...
by media celebrities, and was convicted for indecent assault and imprisoned for five years nine months in June 2014. His art work was largely withdrawn from sale, and the CBE was cancelled and annulled.


Painting

The portrait in
oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...
of the Queen wearing a turquoise dress, measuring , took two months to complete. Two sittings were held at Buckingham Palace in the summer of 2005; Harris subsequently completed the painting at his own art studio. The two sittings were filmed by the BBC. Prior to painting the portrait, Harris said that he wanted to "get the real person rather than the state image" and intended that it would be "representational of the way the Queen looks and her obvious charm and friendly quality, rather than the very formal". Harris aimed to create an "impressionistic" as opposed to a "photographic" portrait of the Queen.


Critical reception

The portrait was voted the second-most-favoured portrait of the Queen by the British public; however, it has been critically derided, being described by Harry Wallop as depicting the Queen as a "gurning granny".
Clive Aslet Clive Aslet (born 15 February 1955) is a writer on British architecture and life, and a campaigner on countryside and other issues. He was for many years editor of '' Country Life'' magazine. He is Visiting Professor of Architecture at the Univers ...
, writing in ''The Telegraph'', described the painting as representing a "nadir" of portraiture of the Queen, feeling it showed her "grinning like the monkey on top of a barrel organ".


Ownership and location

The location and ownership of the painting are presently unknown. The National Portrait Gallery later refused Harris's offer of the portrait. In 2012, the painting was displayed at the
Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History of the Gallery The Walker Art Gallery's collection ...
in Liverpool as part of an exhibition of Harris's work. It was described by the Walker Gallery as having been part of Harris's private collection; the gallery later said that they had returned the portrait to Whitewall Galleries with whom Harris had a commercial relationship. Following Harris's arrest and 2014 conviction for indecent assault and sexual offences, BBC News Online's magazine discussed the location and ownership of the painting. It revealed that the painting was not part of the
Royal Collection The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world. Spread among 13 occupied and historic royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King Charles III and overseen by the ...
, having only been loaned to the Queen's Gallery for display; it was also not part of the BBC's art collection and Whitewall Galleries did not respond to requests for a comment on the portrait's ownership. The public relations company
Bell Pottinger Bell Pottinger Private (legally BPP Communications Ltd.) was a British multinational public relations, reputation management and marketing company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. On 12 September 2017 it went into administration (bankr ...
, who acted for Harris during his trial, were unable to say if Harris possessed the painting. The article reported that it was "likely to have been returned to Harris".


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II - An 80th Birthday Portrait Rolf Harris 2005 paintings 21st-century portraits Cultural depictions of Elizabeth II Portraits by Australian artists Portraits of the British Royal Family Portraits of women