Mixed reception for portrait of Princess

Press, 30 January 1984, Page 4

Mixed reception for portrait of Princess

NZPA-AAP London A portrait of Princess Diana by the Australianborn June Mendoza has had a mixed reception at its official unveiling. The Princess said she liked the painting “very much” but some art critics’ comments ranged from “lacking something” to “the pits.” Miss Mendoza, the only woman member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, had been commissioned to do the painting by the second-senior of the 12 Great City of London Guilds, the Grocers’ Company. Sir Hugh Casson, president of the Royal Academy, examined photographs of the portrait before the unveiling. According to the “Daily Mail” newspaper, he said, “I don’t like using the word ‘superficial’ but something is lacking in this picture. “The artist, I suspect, is uneasy when confronted with a Royal sitter where loyalty can conflict with

perception. But it is a good likeness, as one would expect from an experienced portrait painter. “It catches the Princess’s fine-boned charm but not, I think, her splendid strength of character. “I think there is granite underneath this girl. She is a strong character. I would have looked for a deeper understanding.” Brian Sewell, the art critic for the “Tatler” magazine, said, “It is the pits. It’s appalling. I thought the (Bryan) Organ picture of the Princess was bad enough, but this picture makes Organ look like Michelangelo.” Organ created a storm with his portrait of the Princess in 1981, showing her in tight-leg trousers and flatty shoes. Sewell said, “The Princess looks as if she has got anorexia nervosa. The arm and hand look like something out of Belsen.” But a fellow member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, Michael

Noakes, leapt to Miss Mendoza’s defence. He said, “No criticism. It is a very accomplished, professional painting.” Miss Mendoza shrugged off the criticism. “I suppose they have only seen it in black-and-white pictures which makes it difficult to judge,” she said. “I don’t know how they can criticise something they have not seen properly. I am happy with the picture and I hope the Princess likes it too.” Miss Mendoza has previously painted the Queen, Prince Philip, Prince Charles, and Prince Edward. She is about to start a portrait of Princess Anne. In the portrait. Princess Diana is standing in a drawing room at Kensington Palace, in front of a tapestry depicting a woodlands scene. She is wearing a deeppink satin ball gown with matching lace chemise top, and diamond and pearl earrines.