A new portrait of the Queen was unveiled last night, but Her Majesty will not see the painting until October 11, when she names the newest Cunard liner at a ceremony in Southampton.
The portrait has been commissioned by Cunard to hang in the Grand Lobby of the ship, Queen Elizabeth. The artist, Isobel Peachey, will reveal her work at the National Portrait Gallery tonight, but the picture will not be put on public display.
At 31, Lancashire-born Peachey is the youngest female artist ever to paint the Queen, who is understood to have posed for three sittings over several months in the Yellow Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace. She is portrayed in a pale blue gown, and wearing Queen Victoria’s diamond necklace and earrings which she also wore at the Coronation in 1953.
An accomplished award-winning portrait artist, Peachey had never before been commissioned to paint a royal portrait. She said: “At my interview with Cunard, I answered many questions about how I would approach an important commission – but it was only at the end of the interview that the subject was revealed as The Queen. This was both a shock and a marvellous surprise.”
Cunard president and managing director Peter Shanks added: “We were keen to offer the commission to a young artist who had never before had such an opportunity. and the quality of the finished work is such that our confidence has been greatly rewarded.
“It is a truly wonderful picture of Her Majesty … even more remarkable when you consider that, lacking a private studio, Isobel executed this magnificent painting in her mum’s attic.”
Cunard has a tradition of naming their ships after monarchs and commissioning appropriate works of art. A bust of the Queen, commissioned from sculptor Oscar Nemon for the QE2 in 1969, was retained when the ship was sold to Dubai in 2008. It will be displayed alongside the portrait on board the new Queen Elizabeth.
Congratulations to Peachey to get the greatest opportunity in life. At first I thought it is a live photo. Truly unbelievable work.