Perhaps you’ve seen the new portrait of King Charles III, and perhaps you’ve wondered why the artist chose the colors he did.
The portrait, by British artist Jonathan Yeo, depicts Charles wearing the uniform of the Welsh Guards and holding a sword. His whole body is consumed by bright red brushstrokes and background. Charles’s face — which, giving credit where it’s due, is a striking likeness to the monarch — is ashen gray. It almost gives the impression that Charles is a corpse, engulfed in flames. Some have said the king looks demonic. There is also a butterfly hovering over his left shoulder, a tribute to his love for the environment.
CNN reports:
While the celebrated artist works mainly in oils, [Yeo] has dabbled in another medium: collage. In 2007, after a commission to paint former US President George W. Bush fell through, he decided to make an “ironic homage,” according to his website, by collaging cutouts from hardcore pornographic magazines to create a portrait of the then US president, a satire on “the assumed moral superiority of the extreme right in American politics.”
Would we say George W. Bush is “the extreme right” in American politics? Perhaps we might if our vantage point was the extreme left. . . .
Yeo may be talented, but both his taste and judgment leave a lot to be desired. Unfortunately, these shortcomings are reflected in his portrait of the king, which will outlive them both.