Princess Kate’s Photoshop scandal proves how invaluable men like Ralph Heimans are to the royals
Ralph Heimans was the first artist commissioned to capture Mary Donaldson’s transition from marketer to the monarchy. Now his eyes are on William and Kate.
If you want to capture a royal beautifully, realistically – and, given the recent “Waterkate” photographic scandal – accurately, call Ralph Heimans.
The Sydney-born painter has earned a reputation over his 30-year career working mainly in Europe as one of the world’s most sought-after portrait artists.
He is now more colloquially known in royal and art circles as the “artist to the royals”, having been commissioned to produce portraits of Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Mary of Denmark and her husband, King Frederik.
More recently, he painted ex- prime minister Kevin Rudd.
His next dream subjects?
“Prince William and Catherine. They symbolise the next generation of royalty and leadership to some degree. They would be absolutely fascinating subjects,” Heimans told The Australian.
Both he and the Princess of Wales – being an “amateur photographer” – share a common love of imagery. He said the controversy over the royal family’s recent doctored photo scandal was a “storm in a tea cup”.
“It really does highlight the importance placed on images. Royal photographs and portraits are very important, they are a part of a canon, and every single detail will be scrutinised. You have to be mindful during composition of anything that could be misinterpreted. That’s why I take more than a year to work on those projects.”
Heimans is renowned for his narrative portraiture choosing, as the kids say, to bury “Easter eggs” in his work, which captures the essence of his subjects and entices the viewer to delve deeper into his stories.
His most ambitious project was in 2005 when he was asked to capture the recently anointed Princess Mary, after the former Australian marketing executive had married the heir to the Danish throne a year earlier.
The result is a large-scale and arresting portrait that captures the royal’s professionalism and a sense of fragility regarding her new job and life at the time.
“It was my breakthrough portrait. She wanted something original. She didn’t want the standard princess in tiara and sash,” Heimans said.
The idea, he explained, was “very simple”. Mary is looking out of the window of a palace and pulling on a pair of gloves, as she gazes to the outside world.
The room was significant for the setting for one of her first official portraits. It’s the official reception room for the monarch and it was the room where Mary made her first public comments after becoming engaged.
Heimans played with the architecture and replaced the existing artwork with a mirror to show the backdrop of her hometown, Hobart, with Venetian-style views of Constitution Dock.
“By using a mirror in the painting I created a window into another time,” he said.
Following the success of painting Europe’s newest royal, he was commissioned by the continent’s longest-reigning monarch. In 2012, Queen Elizabeth II sat for Mr Heimans, the only portrait the late monarch posed for during her Diamond Jubilee year. The large-scale piece now hangs permanently at Westminster Abbey and is known as “part of the fabric of the abbey”.
From there, other royals were lining up for an audience with Mr Heimans including Prince Philip and crown princes (now kings) Charles and Frederik.
Fans of Heimans’ work no longer have to wait to see his work up close – how the artist intends it to be viewed – as the National Portrait Gallery will host his first major exhibition in Australia.
Ralph Heimans: Portraiture, Power, Influence, which opens in Canberra on Friday and runs through to May, will include the portraits of Mary and Frederik, as well as his works focusing on cultural and political royalty, including actor Judi Dench, former High Court judge Michael Kirby and former governor-general Quentin Bryce.
Prior to working with curator Joanna Gilmour on the exhibition, Heimans was in Canberra last year to unveil Dr Rudd’s official prime ministerial portrait, an assignment that took four years to complete and sits permanently in the Parliament House collection.
“The exhibition will offer audiences an insight not only to Heimans’ skill as an artist but will also consider his position in the centuries-old tradition of Western portraiture,” Gilmour said.
More Coverage
The snapper & the starlet
Photographer Eve Arnold spent 10 years photographing icon of the silver screen Marilyn Monroe and through the lens discovered a woman with a remarkable talent as a model ... and a friend.
Stokes’ art gift smashes record
Kerry Stokes believes the NGA’s expanded sculpture garden will be an international drawcard and a source of national pride.