All sizzle but no substance: An art critic’s take on King Charles’ portrait

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At first glance I thought the palace was on fire, with Charles looking strangely pleased as he was engulfed in flames.

was the only portrait that had the world talking. It’s a distinctly unorthodox kind of royal portrait.

The challenge for the royal family today is not so much to stay relevant as an institution, as to stay visible. The contemporary world is obsessed with celebrity, and celebrity is a state of extreme visibility in which substance is not a necessary ingredient. Look at Donald Trump. He’s never off our screens, but his only subject is himself.

Australian Ralph Heimans painted Charles in 2018, standing by the window in Dumfries House in Scotland. Now he wears a grey suit and an alert expression, and holds a walking stick, as if he is preparing to go outside for a stroll. The artist said he wanted to allude to Charles’s support for the environment and Britain’s architectural heritage, but these themes are not signposted in the picture which remains a conventional piece of realism.

King Charles and Queen Camilla , at the unveiling of a portrait by Ralph Heimans at London’s Australia House in 2018.Yeo and Heimans are probably the two best-known artists to paint King Charles, but with time, the Bryan Organ painting looks the pick of the bunch.Coronation Day These changing images of King Charles and Queen Elizabeth indicate the British monarchy’s desire to keep up with the times while not relinquishing the dignity of an office defined by duty and protocol. It’s a far cry from Pharaonic Egypt, in which the image of a giant-sized king smiting his tiny enemies was repeated for more than 3,000 years. In ancient times the chief objective of a royal portrait was to emphasise the power and prestige of a ruler who ranked second only to God.

 

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