From Richard II to Missis Kwin – a trawl through Britain’s monarchs

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The Royal Portrait: Image and Impact

Jennifer Scott

Missis Kwin, an unfamiliar  image of Queen Elizabeth II from Papua, New Guinea is probably as mystifying a representation of Her Majesty as that produced by Lucian Freud, and makes a dramatic introduction to this book. The succeeding chapters trace the history of the royal portrait.

Jennifer Scott deals with the move from oil and canvas, etc. to photography, and there are portraits of our present royal family as well as the expected photographs, both formal and informal.  There is a surprising photograph of Her Majesty sitting for her portrait by Lucian Freud (handbag by her side and wearing a suit and tiara – not a comfortable combination) and the resulting portrait is also illustrated.   

Although the book ostensibly deals with monarchs and their images, an informal photograph entitled Prince Harry and Prince William at the RBS Six Nations  Championship Match shows them accompanied by Catherine Middleton  (who is not mentioned in the credit).  A prescient touch indeed. There is no portrait of the Prince of Wales. It is an interesting trawl through the monarchs in painting and sculpture from the stiff and serious (Richard II) to an intimate group of photographs of the Queen taken by her son, the Duke of York.  Years of practice have made her much more at ease with the camera than her great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria, who was the first monarch to be exposed to the medium.

For the general reader rather than the specialist (for whom several erudite catalogues of the Royal Collection are available),  this modest book is a ‘new assessment of portraiture in the image-making of monarchs from Richard II to the present day’. Unfortunately the text is extraordinarily dense (although containing some good points) and requires a reasonable knowledge of the background history to untangle.  Jennifer Scott has a somewhat disarming way of describing the various images in such depth that the portrait’s subject can disappear. 

The illustrations are generally good but the scale can be dramatically undifferentiated.  A miniature can be shown at the same size as panels from the Banqueting House, for instance. (This is not a fault exclusive to this volume).  Fortunately, the dimensions of each Figure (not plates) are given, so the reader can, if so minded, understand the scale.   There are not quite enough illustrations to justify the description ‘picture book’ so the book falls between two stools.

Many of the images are, of course, familiar; but perhaps this new interpretation will draw in fresh readers.  This might make a good souvenir present for someone visiting Britain, but I doubt that the text would ever be fully read.    This is a pity, as the writer has good knowledge and is generous in interpreting the subject.  But maybe a lighter touch might have been welcome, as the target audience is likely to have been the casual shopper rather than a library.

Probably for the visitor to royal palaces or collector of royal memorabilia rather than the library, this book nevertheless attacks a familiar subject from a slightly different angle.  A useful ‘Royal Line of Succession since Richard II’, index and bibliography are included.

The Royal Portrait: Image and Impact  by Jennifer Scott is published by Royal Collection Enterprises Ltd, 2010.  200 pp., 180 colour illustrations/6 mono illus, £19.95 (hardback). ISBN 978-05686-15-1