long live the queen

[kathleen]

hey paulette, your mention of the new portrait intrigued me, i had not heard of it. i am betting this is the one you were referring to of several a google search brought up. portrait

ooh yeah. i would have a hard time paying for this one with a good heart. but this article also mentions that she is no longer the heartbreakingly beautiful young girl she once was; i can't quite agree with that assessment either. . she can't have liked it, not really, do you think? she would have been better off to submit a recent photo here as retouching challenge and let herself be painted.

[DJ Dubovsky]

Wow, I know Paulette said it was unflattering but I didn't realize how much. The only thing he made flattering was the crown of jewels. I never thought she was a beautiful woman or an ugly woman just a normal woman who is aging normally. I kind of like that she doesn't get into all that plastic nip and tuck but that portrait is a sad tribute in my eyes. But that's his style I guess.
DJ

[paulette conlan]

Good detective work Kathleen.Yes, that's the portrait alright that I saw in the newspaper.Looks almost like a poor "paint by numbers" attempt.I really have my doubts about some of these so-called artists.Maybe our UK friend on this site can enlighten us.
PC

[kathleen]

hey dj,

i agree with your assessment of her looks. but when i think about her in the old footage of her coronation, i do see a vulnerability and innocence that was attractive. i can remember my grandmother always saying, "youth is beautiful". In my 20's and 30's, i'd look around and shrug my shoulders and scrach my head @ that remark. but now in my 50's, i think i know what she meant.

thanks for alerting us to this foul deed paulette

[Jill]

Wow, that IS awful. Thanks for finding that Kathleen, I was so curious...It looks like she has a beard, what a strange style of painting I guess....eeeks

[Hankster65]

Kathleen,

Thanks for finding this! I read your post but was hardly prepared for the painting. I almost fell out of my chair laughing! Excuse this crude expression, but, its the only one fitting for this potrait...."butt ugly."

The quote in the article that really amused me was, "The painting has been described as 'thought-provoking and psychologically penetrating' by the head of the National Portrait Gallery, Charles Saumarez-Smith."

So much for the art experts.

Thanks again...I'm still laughing.

[DJ Dubovsky]

Wouldn't you just love to have been a fly on the wall when she was alone to ponder that portrait. How about the extreme self control she must have exercised when she was face to face with the unvieling? Love to have seen that. There should have been a medal in that performance.
After reading the whole aritcle I too am laughing histerically. I love the comparison to a Rugby forward. Or how about the Corgi after suffering a stroke? Now those are art critics who know their stuff. Although, Thought provoking is correct also, you wouldn't beleive the thoughts I've had since seeing it.
DJ

[thomasgeorge]

Probably a good thing for the "Artist" that racking, drawing and quartering is no longer in vogue and that the Tower is now a tourist trap. I've seen better looking stuff at the south end of a north bound herd of cows. Tom

[chris h]

Your all phillistines your merely looking at the outer crust of a beautiful woman and I agree with the NPG's interpretation

'thought-provoking and psychologically penetrating'

As a Brit sorry English (Got rid of the Scots and NI/Wales asap !) I feel fully qualified to comment on this masterpiece. It shows the inner pain caused by long years of self indulgence and the grind of 100's of servants constantly under the feet, not to mention the constant clank of Phillips medals ! although I understand he now takes them off in bed. The strain of $15.000.000 spending money pa is beginning to tell, a struggle I know in these hard times. How would you feel if you had to meet with your children on a regular basis and knowing your mother is kept alive on a bottle of gin a day, its no fun I can tell you especially if your a taxpayer. The Windsors have always had an affinity for horses and Freud brings this out in the painting.

I'll be happy to offer further interpretation if requested !

[kathleen]

Sir H

that would be entirely too much laffing for one day

[Hankster65]

Tom wrote...

"I've seen better looking stuff at the south end of a north bound herd of cows."

Tom, you have such a poetic way of putting things! Loved it! Thanks, you've given me my second good laugh of the day. (The first being my first look at the "portrait.")

Chris....thank goodness the Phillip's Medals were put aside at bedtime. Otherwise, I could understand the portrait much better.
(Your comments gave me my third good laugh of the day!)

Thanks to all...I needed that.

[chris h]

I've looked at the portrait for some time and feel a full length nude study would have have been more appropriate with a selection of Royal jewels placed for modesty. A couple of servants could have given her the once over with a warm clothes iron to get rid of the creases.

[thomasgeorge]

Egads!!! Perish the notion! Such a sight would be enough to sink a thousand ships!! It would be the intellectual and artistic equlivent of the worst days of the black death, the 1918 flu epidemic and a 49 hour nonstop commercial free stereo digitally enhanced marathon of Lawrence Welk accordian solos. Please, kind Knight, mercy..take the cattle and goods....just spare us Tom

[DJ Dubovsky]

OH God, you guys got to stop. My stomach is starting to hurt! Chris, it hasn't been that long ago that words like that would have gotten you drawn and quartered. All I can say is thank God the artist stopped at the neck line.
DJ

[chris h]

Rest easy brave frontiersmen/women none of the royals have ever been seen naked in public. It's not for want of trying its just that the servants didn't show them how to work zips and buttons.

[Hankster65]

DJ, we've got to stop them! My sides are hurting. "A full length nude"....its too horrid, and...OK, too funny, to even imagine....(thank goodness.)

Tom & Chris, you guys are terrible! You should consider a career in portrait painting.

And, Kathleen, you started all this!

[kathleen]

no, seriously now, (gasp)

all kidding aside, (wipe tear)

really, (snort one last time)

is it a cause celebre over there? or whatever the opposite of that is? is there no champion? had you seen it before?

[kathleen]

paulette,

young lady you have much to answer for . . .

[Hankster65]

Ah, no, Kathleen, you can't push the blame. You're the one that got this started. In those immortal words... "Ya got some 'splainin' to do!".

What I'm hoping for at this point is the "artist" is commisioned to do the entire royal family. It could become a comedy classic. Can't wait to see Fergie.

[kathleen]

Tim

You're welcome.

actually, i kind of liked his self-portrait. methinks he was somewhat kinder to himself than her.

she reminds me of that line from an old movie, "we're fed up and we're not going to take it anymore."

[Ed_L]

After reading all the comments, it seems as though I'm the only one who can see the real beauty in it. Yeah, right!

Ed

[DJ Dubovsky]

You know, when I sqint my eyes real hard it kind of looks like that guy on the "Please don't squeeze the Charmin" commercials.

This may not be the most informative thread but it sure is the funniest.
DJ

[Sam]

What a pain it is being in a different time zone to you guys - I miss out on all the action! This thread is seriously good value!!

Not only her portrait painter, but also her hairdresser ought to be locked up in the Tower. I mean - what kind of a hairstyle is THAT???

I've got an idea! How about using this as the next retouching challenge? "Improve This". Might be the easiest retouch challenge so far! Here's my entry, which I feels reflects modern Britain.

(copyright? what's that?)

[jeaniesa]

OK Sam. You win the trophy so far. I've had a horrendous day and didn't think much of anything could make me laugh at this point. BUT - you have me laughing now!!


Thanks - I needed that.

Jeanie

[kathleen]

me too sam. and just when i thought things had settled down and i could stop laughing and go to bed. outrageous.

the hair's about the only thing i thought he did her justice on- she's always had essentially that hair, hasn't she? poor queenie.

[Sam]

I think he exaggerated the hair just a wee bitty, don't you? Along with the sags, bags, droopy eyelids, six-oclock shadow, etc. EXACTLY like her Spitting Image puppet!!

I'm sure L.Freud has always enjoyed the general public's shocked reactions to his paintings ...

But, like someone said earlier, the queen should have known he'd do that ... silly old her!

All that said, I say "thanks" to both of them for giving us all such a good laugh.

[chris h]

So typical of the embittered Scots lampooning our beloved Queen from some African shangri la. What I want to know is how much was Freud paid for this flattering work, was it mentioned ?

[thomasgeorge]

A person can get PAID for doing stuff like that? Time to saddle up and head the wagons East.... Tom

[Hankster65]

I just can't let this one go by...

[chris h]

Thanks Tim I've just run off 5000 !