Kate Middleton's New Portrait - Wishy Washy, Scary & Flat

 LONDON: The first painted portrait of The Duchess of Cambridge has been unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery, with support from the Art Fund.

The painting is a hyper-realistic study of her face. It was created by artist Paul Emsley. He is known as for his large and detailed images of wrinkly old men and wild animals. He won the prestigious BP Portrait Award at the National Gallery in 2007.

However, comments on the new painting have mostly been unfavourable.  On Yahoo, for example, one social commentator said, 'One word - horrible'.

I thought that it looked flat, wan and a bit scary.  It had aged her about 25 years. The colour in the background was far too dark and there were too many sickly colours used in the face. Maybe she was suffering from PMT.

If I was any good at painting portraits, I would have chosen a sketchy,  black and white one, using a thick black brush, rather like a Chinese brushpainting; her hair flying around in the wind on a breezy British day. Lots of nice white space too.

She has quite strong features in itself and doesn't need all that block colour. I would also perhaps add a touch of embroidery or other textiles, to the picture, to add a bit of warmth and interest. She looks Elizabethtaylor-esque,  with her strong dark eyes and eyelashes.  I don't think the picture reflects her outdoorsy, sporty and creative personality at all.

She looks like someone from a women's fiction horror story. 

The Sun newspaper has asked its readers if they could do a better portrait. Their address is The Sun, 3 Thomas More Square, London E98 1SN. They said they will publish the best.

In the meantime, I am still trying to find anyone, not connected with the Gallery, who actually like it.

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