Kategori: Artwork

Reflections on the First Official Portrait of King Charles III

8/31/2024

Back in June the, much delayed, official portrait of the king
was unveiled. At the time I was quite busy organizing an event
in my local community and didn't really have time to address
it.

Like many official portraits its merely okay. Its a portrait of
the King wearing the medals of Canada's honours system. It
fulfills the basic criteria of an official portrait. And if you want
your very own copy the Department of Canadian Heritage
has you covered.

But His Majesty has better depictions, many from before he
assumed the throne:

Ralph Heimans, 2018

This portrait which marked Charles' 70th birthday, when he
was still the Prince of Wales, is great in so many ways. It
captures his dual love of nature and architecture. It conveys
motion by avoiding a full frontal view. And it uses a colour
palette that is neither so dark as to be dingy nor so light as to
wash out its subject which is what I argue the official portrait
does. This painting also happens to beat out the King's official
portrait in the UK which is best left unremarked on further.

His Majesty has also had better photos taken of him:

Why is this an issue? Well, for starters I think if better is
possible, better is what you aim for. Secondly, the King is a
representative of Canada and if his picture is completely
indistinguishable from that of every other man in a suit its an
image problem. Thirdly, and related to the second point, the
King is not just another politician; his portrait should reflect
that.

Indeed, if a person was unfamiliar with King Charles III and
you told them it was a portrait of President Charles they
would have no reason to doubt you.

As to who is at fault for this I can't say. The Australian portrait
has a similar issue so perhaps it was the King who felt a
restrained approach was best. Perhaps, the Canadian and
Australian government wanted a toned down image. And it
could just be that everything was rushed and there was little
time on anyone's part as to what an official portrait should be.

The Heiman's portrait above comes closest to what royal
portraits used to be; conveyers of meaning as well as likeness.
It would not hurt to get back to that tradition.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Meme Monday #1

8/27/2018

Found this on the Monarchists Facebook page.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Much Ado About Paintings

11/15/2015

Last week there was a bit of a stir when the Queen's portrait
was removed from the lobby of the Foreign Affairs building.
The portrait had hung there since 2011 when it replaced two
paintings by Quebec artist Alfred Pellan.

Photo: Adrian Wyld of The Canadian Press

The Monarchist League of Canada was not pleased. Outside
observers may see the reaction as a bit much. To understand
the reaction from the League requires knowing a bit of the
history between the League and the Liberal Party of Canada.

The League formed in 1970 in order
to counter what was seen as the
'creeping republicanism' of the
governing Liberal Party. The slow
removal of royal symbols, downplay
of royal history, and subtle disregard
for the Crown was a war of attrition.
Every negative action taken by the
government in regards to the Crown
had to be confronted or Canada's
monarchy would face slow decay.

However, over the last ten years the monarchy has been
returned to its rightful place at the center of Canadian culture
by the Conservative Party. During the period in between the
Liberals held a vote on adopting opposition to the monarchy
as a part of party policy. While the vote failed 67-33 the
vote left some monarchists concerned about what the Liberal
Party would do in power. The Trudeau Liberals have also
made some supportive statements in favour of the
monarchy. However, saying things outside of power and
doing things once in power are completely different.

With the return of the Liberal Party after the recent election
the League is certainly looking for signs whether the
monarchy is now valued by the Liberals or whether it will be a
return to the previous policy of republicanism by a thousand
cuts. While the League is strictly non-partisan there isn't
a lot of trust for the new Liberal government as of yet. An
action like this so shortly after the election was likely to be
interpreted as an attack. The portrait flap will probably come
to be seen as the first uneasy interaction between two groups
which have not had to work together for a while. I'm not
prepared to read too much into this action. One mistake a
trend doth not make. As for what ought to have been done
about the paintings...

The paintings in question

A compromise should have been found. The Conservatives are
somewhat to blame for the current situation. They set up a
situation that artificially pitted monarchism vs. Quebec
nationalism. The sensible solution, in 2011 as in 2015, would
be to have both the Queen's portrait and the paintings on the
(very large) wall. The paintings represent the diversity of
Canada. The portrait represents Canada's status as a
monarchy, a unifying force, and the person in whose name
the Foreign Affairs office acts. The wall is literally, and
figuratively big enough for both.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

On a Lighter Note: A Monarchist Meme

11/19/2014

I've been browsing Deviantart a bit lately. Always impressed, and sometimes amazed, by the creativity of some people.

The meme below is a creation of Neral. Unforunately it has a bit of truth to it but I found it amusing regardless.

Remember to promote monarchy away from the computer too.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Reflections on the First Official Portrait of King Charles III

Meme Monday #1

Much Ado About Paintings

On a Lighter Note: A Monarchist Meme

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