Just over a year after the coronation of Charles III as king of England, Buckingham Palace has released his first official portrait as a British monarch, a striking unconventional painting that has not gone unnoticed.
Signed by portraitist Jonathan Yeo, the work shows Prince William’s father dressed in the uniform of the Welsh Guards, with which he was appointed colonel in 1975. Red color It predominates throughout the painting, which is two and a half meters high and which the king himself was in charge of unveiling this Tuesday, May 14.
The monarch appears in the center of the painting. The portrait does not have a distinguishable background and the red of the uniform blends with the rest of the painting to highlight two elements: the face of Charles III and a monarch butterfly which seems to rest on his shoulder, this being the most symbolic detail of the work. As the author himself has explained, the butterfly symbolizes both the “personal transformation” of King Charles as his commitment to “environmental causes.”
:quality(85)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/KXTEGWJOEC35JJ2CFKEIH7NBHQ.jpg 420w "This is the first official portrait of Charles III as king: Unconventional and with a symbolic detail 2")
Portrait by artist Jonathan Yeo of King Charles III of the United Kingdom. (Via AP)In charge in 2020
After this portrait was revealed, Yeo has given more details about the process of creating the work. Thus, the author said that he received the commission in 2020, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Charles III, then Prince of Wales, as a member of the British textile guild. The Draper’s Company.
“It was a privilege and pleasure to be commissioned by The Drapers’ Company to paint this portrait of His Majesty the King, the first to be revealed since his Coronation,” says the artist. “When I started this project, His Majesty the King was still Her Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and, like the butterfly I painted floating over her shoulder, this portrait has evolved as the role has transformed of the subject in our public life,” he explains.
“I do my best to capture the life experiences and humanity etched into each sitter’s face, and I hope that is what I have achieved in this portrait. Trying to capture that for His Majesty the King, who occupies such a unique role, was a tremendous professional challenge and one that I thoroughly enjoyed and for which I am immensely grateful,” he concludes.
The painting will remain on display from this Thursday, May 15 to June 14 at the Philip Mold art gallery in London, before being definitively moved to the walls of the Drapers’ Hall building in the city’s financial district.
