"The subsequent history of the portrait of Queen Elizabeth is public knowledge. It was shown in the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1955 and received an enormous amount of publicity throughout the world. (The painting, which received immense publicity, had a great popular appeal and the attendance throughout the fifteen weeks reached a total of almost 300,000, the highest for over fifty years.*) But there is one persistent fallacy about it that I would like to kill. It did not make a fortune for me. When I agreed to paint it for a fee of two thousand pounds, I fully expected to earn a considerable sum from the subsequent sale of reproductions. Only after I was offered ten thousand pounds for the reproduction rights did I discover that they were not mine to sell.
Whereas in Italy an artist retains the copyright of any of his works unless he contracts otherwise, in Britain (as I learned too late) the copyright of a commissioned portrait goes to the buyer unless there is a contract to the contrary. When I appealed to the Fishmongers I was given the rights of reproduction outside Britain as a consolation prize. Then, at the end of 1955, they allowed me to buy the British rights. But by that time the enormous initial demand for reproductions had waned and I had already passed up the ten-thousand-pound offer. (Later, when I painted the Duke of Edinburgh, I sign the portrait with a tiny figure of myself carrying a big fish on my back. The fish symbolised the reproduction rights which, that time, I succeeded in keeping for myself.)
The picture of the Queen was used on postage stamps in dozens of countries all over the world, but few paid any fees. For the British stamps I was paid about thirty pounds. For those of Hong Kong, which were particularly good, I received a specimen sheet of stamps. Several countries also used the portrait on their paper month. One or two graciously sent me a sample banknote - overprinted 'Cancelled'! Most gave me no acknowledgement at all."
To be continued
*A note by Robert Wraight, collaborator with Annigoni on his autobiography.
(Excerpted from "Pietro Annigoni: An Artist's Life" by Pietro Annigoni, 1977.)
No comments:
Post a Comment