Pietro Annigoni: Portrait of Queen Elizabeth, 1969, Pt. 1

"Self-Portrait, 1971" by Pietro Annigoni

"I had been surprised to get a letter from Dr. Roy Strong asking me if I would accept a commission to paint a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II for the National Portrait Gallery, of which he was then the Director. Work on the portrait did not begin until two years afterwards. I arrived in London on 19th February 1969, having travelled by train across by train across a snowbound Europe. I had to be in the Yellow Drawing-room at Buckingham Palace, with a clear head, at eleven-thirty in the morning for the Queen's first sitting. I arrived early and arranged my things, feeling completely calm and at home in the familiar surroundings. 

It had been arranged that my portrait would show the Queen wearing the mantle of the Order of the British Empire, but it was not until the seventh and eighth sittings that she made her appearance in it for me. Each time she had come straight from another sitting which was for a sculptor who was making a bust for the new 'Queen Elizabeth' liner. 'The poor man is rather desperate,' she said. 'He says that my face is extremely changeable.' I told her that he had my sympathy and I could understand his difficulty, and she smiled, amused, and went on: 'This morning's sitting was an extra to the six agreed upon but he has destroyed the clay head again. He does it every time; takes it up in his hands and' - she imitated his action vigorously with her own hands - 'reforms it.'

At the end of the eighth sitting, the Queen reminded me that it was the last she was able to give me until the following October. I explained that during that period I would be working in Florence on the final painting, and I tried to convey to her how I visualised the finished portrait. 'I see Your Majesty as being condemned to solitude because of your position,' I said, 'and I intend to let that be my inspiration. It goes without saying that, as a wife and mother you are entirely different, but I see you really alone as a Monarch and I want to represent you that way. If I succeed, the woman, the Queen and, for that matter, the solitude will emerge.'

She nodded earnestly in agreement and then came to look at the study I had made during the eight sittings. Although I watched her closely, she gave me no idea of her reaction to it until she spoke. 'One doesn't know one's self,' she said. 'After all, we have a biased view when we see ourselves in a mirror and, what's more, the image is always in reverse.'

'I hope Your Majesty has nothing against being depicted without jewellery, including earrings?' I said. She listened and nodded in agreement and before she left she held out her hand to me and said: 'I feel that the inspiration is there. Go ahead. I look forward to seeing you and the picture in October.'"

To be continued 

(Excerpted from "Pietro Annigoni: An Artist's Life" by Pietro Annigoni, 1977.)