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Portrait of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge is the first official portrait of the Duchess. Emsley, originally of South Africa and a 2007 recipient of the BP Portrait Award, had previously painted portraits of Nelson Mandela and Naipaul. In a video interview for The Daily Telegraph, Emsley suggested that in the beginning he was thrilled to receive the commission. "Slowly" he says he realized the importance of the project was, not just for himself, but for many others, making him slightly nervous.The Duchess sat for him twice—for a day's session in May at the artist's studio in Bradford-upon-Avon, and a brief session in June at Kensington Palace, where he did quick drawings and took more photographs—and he used photographs to assist him. He describes her during the process as "quite amenable". It shows Catherine wearing a bottle green pussy bow blouse, looking straight out from the picture, smirking, rather than grinning. The artist noted that, if too defined, smiling portraiture occasionally may "look like caricatures". Emsley darkened the eyes slightly to match her tunic; the background is also shaded in a similar hue of dark green. Emsley was also keen to draw attention to the rich texture of her hair. Talking to the BBC after criticism of his work, he noted that he didn't want to overwhelm her face. Emsley said, "I don't have lots of things in the background. I do like large faces, I find them strong and contemporary. I'm interested in the landscape of the face, the way in which light and shadow fall across the forms. That's really my subject matter. To have anything else in there is really just an interference." As Catherine's image "is so pervasive", he told the media he needed to go past the image on his mind.The process took him 15 weeks with the portrait completed before November 2012, when it was presented to the trustees of the gallery. The portrait is on display on the wall of Room 37 on the ground floor of the National Portrait Gallery Contemporary Collections, next to a video of a sleeping David Beckham. It was donated to the gallery by Sir Hugh Legatt with support of The Art Fund, in memory of Sir Denis Mahon.
National Portrait Gallery pussy bow David Beckham Catherine, Duchess Denis Mahon Kensington Palace Bradford-upon-Avon Nelson Mandela Naipaul Art Fund The Daily Telegraph Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge BBC The Art Fund Hugh Legatt