Poll: Do you like Kate's new official portrait?

[kenny]

London's National Portrait Gallery has just added a new oil painting, the official portrait of Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge.

Do you like it?

If possible please vote without reading media about it, just vote based on the portrait itself.
I've included details because in person you could walk up and look closely.



Detail 1:



Detail 2:



Detail 3:

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I think she is one of the most classic beauties in the world. But that portrait in no way does justice to her true looks, IMO. The mouth area is not done well.

 

[yennyfire]

It's terrible! Are they kidding?? She has such a gorgeous smile and it usually lights up her face. Here, she looks like she sucked on a lemon or is trying not to smirk....I can't believe that's the official portrait!

 

[StacylikesSparkles]

I think this picture makes her look older! NOT flattering!

 

[maccers]

I voted 'no' based on my gut reaction. I think it makes her look older than she is. However I do think the artist got a lot of things right with it, her eyes and her pursed lip smile which she's known for. I wish her facial lines were a less deep/pronounced, IMO, that's not quite true to life. I will say that Kate, for a younger person, is older looking but the portrait makes her look a little bit TOO old.

From a purely art point of view, the artist is brilliant, I like his/her style of portrait.

 

[kenny]

I agree.
I think it does her a great disservice.

Since these portraits will hang for centuries, millennia perhaps, maybe the artist was shooting for how she'll look in the middle of her life.

It's quite large.
Here is the artist.

 

[Puppmom]

I think the coloring ages her A LOT...in fact, she's bordering on looking dead.

 

[StacylikesSparkles]

I think the coloring ages her A LOT...in fact, she's bordering on looking dead.

Maybe this is Kate, via a True Blood episode?

 

[kenny]

It's possible the skin tone looks better in real life.
Photography usually distorts color.

 

[VRBeauty]

Gotta feel for the artist - I suspect he's getting pilloried in the media! But to answer your question - the portrait makes her look older and largely misses the vibrancy that comes across in photos. I do think he caught a "twinkle in her eyes" quite nicely though.

 

[kenny]

Kate's first reaction.



Giving the artist the finger.



Right before she slapped him.




Hahahah.

 

[JulieN]

bizarre and creepy.

 

[FrekeChild]

I think her eyes and hair look great. The coloring and mouth? Not so much. She looks about 45....

 

[ruby59]

Noticed the problem areas before Kenny highlighted them. She has such a beautiful smile, but in the picture she looks like she just sucked on some lemons. Also one eye is so much bigger than the other. Amd she looks so washed out in it. This picture, to me, looks like Kate in about 20 years. Kate is a young, beautiful woman and this picture does not do her any justice.

 

[Skippy123]

Her first reaction say it all. She is a Stunning woman but that picture does nothing for her. I wonder if this is the case of an artist thinking too much of himself, going for something different? I don't know.

 

[partgypsy]

Seriously, if I was the queen, I would do a redo. If anything, official portraits are done on the "flattering" side. That painting makes her look worse than real life! The coloring is way off (he makes her look like she has red highlights in her hair) her nose is messed up, and she has a weird expression on her face I can do a better portrait than that (but they would have to accept pencil/waercolor )

 

[VRBeauty]

Her first reaction say it all. She is a Stunning woman but that picture does nothing for her. I wonder if this is the case of an artist thinking too much of himself, going for something different? I don't know.

Hmmm... you might be right. Per the artist: "A person whose image is so pervasive, for an artist it is really difficult to go beyond that and find something which is original," he said. "You have to rely on your technique and your artistic instincts to do that and I hope I've succeeded." And: "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."

 

[amc80]

Wow, that's awful. The eyes are nice, but the rest just makes her look old. The mouth is particularly bad.

 

[MsP]

I think it's a beautiful painting... it just doesn't represent her beauty well at all. She looks unhappy and gaunt.

 

[VapidLapid]

Had he not died recently, I would have liked to have seen Lucien Freud paint her.

 

[Laila619]

No, it's not good. Doesn't capture her vibrant beauty at all.

 

[SB621]

Wow I think it makes her look very old and sort of doubty (or whoever you spell it). I'm not impressed at all.

 

[kenny]

Her first reaction say it all.

Just for the record I lied, or was joking.
I just found those three pics and creating my own captions.

I'm so bad.

 

[Laila619]

Her first reaction say it all.

Just for the record I lied, or was joking.
I just found those three pics and creating my own captions.

I'm so bad.

LOL, they were pretty darn good though!

 

[OreoRosies86]

I do not like this, she looks as though she is trying to stifle a sneeze. She is beautiful, I hope there will be a do-over at some point.

 

[kenny]

I think they should let, say, 20 artists paint portraits and pick the best for the honor of hanging in the National Portrait Gallery.
Art can be such a crap shoot.

 

[cygnet]

That's Kate?!

 

[MichelleCarmen]

The portrait hasn't captured her beauty. Also, I don't like the way her mouth is closed like that. It's like she's trying to hide her teeth. She has a beautiful smile and the painting fails to caputure that or her vibrance.

ETA - if only it were the 1500s...she could have held the artist for treason in the Tower of London and had a new painting commissioned!

 

[minousbijoux]

It looks like someone erased her nose and hastily re-did it. I agree with others that there are elements that are very good, but in general, it doesn't do her justice and makes her look grey and old and unreal.

 

[Maisie]

I think Catherine is a beautiful young woman. Very natural. I don't think this portrait does her justice at all. It makes her look nearer 40. Not sure why she was portrayed this way.