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Duchess of Cambridge delights at first official portrait Duchess of Cambridge delights in first official portrait
(about 2 hours later)
The Duchess of Cambridge's first official portrait has been unveiled – and is described by Kate as amazing. Much larger than life and as glossily tumbling locked as a shampoo commercial, the first official portrait of the Duchess of Cambridge has been unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery.
Award-winning artist Paul Emsley created the large head and shoulders painting of the duchess set against his trademark dark background. The duchess had slipped in before the gallery opened – mindful of the media scrum at the actual unveiling, which included television crews from Germany and Russia – with her husband. "It's just amazing, I thought it was brilliant," she said.
The painting was commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery and, following her suggestion, depicts her natural, not official, persona. "Delightful," gallery director Sandy Nairne said of meeting the couple. "A delightful experience," artist Paul Emsley said.
The duchess, who wore a burgundy dress by Whistles, was joined by her husband, the Duke of Cambridge, for a private viewing of the painting on Friday morning before it went on display to the public in the afternoon. There is no tiara, gilt, red plush or ermine, just a sober background, a plain, dark blue-green blouse modestly fastened up to the neck, and a glint of one expensive earring.
The royal couple spent around 10 minutes looking at the portrait privately then met Emsley and his wife, Susanne, and daughter Marie. Emsley, Glasgow-born, South Africa-reared and winner of the 2007 BP portrait prize, said he had faced one difficulty with the portrait. He said Kate was just too beautiful to make a good subject.
The duchess has been suffering from a rare form of pregnancy sickness but looked well and smiled as she chatted to the artist. "I think any artist would agree that with an older face, with lines or wrinkles, or strong distinguishing features, it's easier to create a likeness. But with a genuinely beautiful face, it's harder to convey character."
She told him: "It's just amazing, I thought it was brilliant." That character was, he felt, genuinely friendly, warm, putting him at ease immediately and interested in the progress of the work, which was made from dozens of close-up photographs and a few sketches. "She's so nice to be with," he said, "and it's genuine."
Prince William also had high praise for the painting, saying: "It's beautiful, it's absolutely beautiful." The duchess sat for the painting at the artist's studio in Bradford on Avon and at Kensington Palace last May and June. Her one request was that she should look like a natural human being, not a woman on official duty. The original plan for an unsmiling face evolved into a gentle enigmatic smile – but no teeth. "There isn't a single open mouthed portrait in the collection," Nairne said, "and for very good reason."
The Cambridges later attended a private breakfast reception at the London gallery to mark the unveiling. Among the guests were the duchess's parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, and her brother and sister, James and Pippa. (Any visitor who wants to inspect the enviably white, straight, royal teeth need only slip next door to the last days of the exhibition of royal photographic portraits by Mario Testino, in which the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are shown wrapped in one another's arms and displaying an unfeasible number of teeth.)
In fact the new portrait is not grovellingly flattering: the scale is so large that viewers won't have to peer very closely to see faint dark shadows under the eyes unmasked by Touche Éclat, and the first hint of fine lines.
The duchess is the royal patron of the gallery, and her portrait was a gift to the collection from the retired old master art dealer Sir Hugh Leggatt.
Stephen Deuchar, director of the Art Fund charity, said Leggatt wanted to commission the portrait in memory of his old friend, the epic art collector and philanthropist Sir Denis Mahon, whose collection the charity manages. "There is a tradition of portraits of princesses, which he was very much aware of, and he wanted to commission this image of her before the full weight of responsibilities of state and motherhood descended on her – and as it turned out, just in time."
• HRH The Duchess of Cambridge, by Paul Emsley, on display at the National Portrait Gallery, London, from 11 January