This was published 11 years ago
Queen portrait attack left Australian artist shocked
Speaking for the first time, painter Ralph Heimans has revealed his fears after learning his Diamond Jubilee portrait had been defaced.
"Did they get the face?" That was the first question Australian artist Ralph Heimans asked when told his Diamond Jubilee portrait of the Queen had been vandalised by a protester just weeks after it went on display at Westminster Abbey.
In his first interview since the mid-June incident, the Sydney-born painter has revealed it left him "extremely shocked".
Artist Ralph Heimans with his portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra in February.Credit: Melissa Adams
Heimans was painting in his studio when his wife told him the portrait had been attacked.
"My first reaction was, did they get the face?" he told the BBC on Thursday. "The face is the soul of the painting and it's very hard to recreate."
The artists's wife didn't know the answer so Heimans jumped in a cab and sped to the abbey to see for himself.
Thankfully her majesty's face was not defaced.
"(But) I was extremely shocked," Heimans said. "I'd spent six months hermetically sealed in this studio very obsessive about not getting any dust or flies on the surface. So it was quite striking to see someone had sprayed purple paint on the work."
Tim Haries from Doncaster in northern England is accused of smuggling a can of spray paint into the abbey before defacing the painting.
The 41-year-old has been charged with criminal damage and will reappear in court next month.
On the day of the attack Fathers4Justice said Haries was a member who felt he'd run out of options after losing access to his two children.
Heimans on Thursday said he hadn't spoken publicly before now "because it took a while for everyone to be reassured the painting could be fully restored".
The work went back on display in mid-July.
I'd spent six months hermetically sealed in this studio very obsessive about not getting any dust or flies on the surface.
The Australian painter said politically-motivated attacks on art weren't new.
"But very often people are mentally disturbed that deface art. The work triggers some sort of reaction in them."
Heimans nevertheless hopes artworks will always be accessible to the public because getting close enough to smell the paint "really adds an extra dimension".
AAP