Jonathan Yeo’s life portrait of King Charles commissioned on behalf of the Drapers’ Company and unveiled yesterday at Buckingham Palace .

Looks like he's drowning in a sea of blood.

There’s already a thread on this, but it hasn’t shown a picture.

I think it's very good. I was amazed to read this morning that Jonathan Yeo is a self-taught artist. He's certainly extremely talented and has really "caught" the King, and even got his "sausage fingers" right.

I'm on team Love It

I think it's really good. Nice to see something a bit different.

I love it.
Very different. A good likeness of Charles, tremendous impact, combining the traditional with the innovative.
Would I hang it on my wall, (the acid test)?
Yes.

It is a good likeness, He looks relaxed and unworried, and the unfocussed background keeps attention on the subject. I am not sure about the overall bright red effect - did he make a mistake in the background at the last minute and paint over it in the first colour that came to hand? It is a bit unsubtle. I'd have liked that better if it had included some mottling in different colours.

Photographs don't always do art justice. Maybe it is less bloodstained-looking in reality.

Apologies, I didn’t know a thread was already up and running. Mind you I like visuals when chatting!

“ The King’s body partly emerges from a storm of red strokes within an upright rectangular block, his red Guard’s uniform blending seamlessly into the background, thus camouflaging the military impact. Gone are formal tropes of drapery, or flashes of gilded ornamentation in favour of something altogether more dynamic and emotionally expressive

“I wanted to open up his character to other interpretations,” Yeo, who is a personal friend, told me when he first showed it to me a few weeks ago. “The military is not the thing we will know him for. I was after mystique rather than power – to throw in a bit of fairy dust if you like. To that end, I also changed the tone of red to something more artificial and fantastical”

Using his characteristic “non-finito” approach, Yeo has included the galaxy of medals and royal insignia… but left them semi unpainted beneath a red glaze. The King’s military and royal qualifications are thus faithfully incorporated, but do not dominate.”

Charles is a keen gardener. I do understand the desired effect of him emerging at last from his mothers shadow, but the out-of-focus backdrop could perhaps have shaded into flowery shapes and out-of-focus greenery, all equally vague, toward the lower half behind his red uniform.

eazybee

I love it.
Very different. A good likeness of Charles, tremendous impact, combining the traditional with the innovative.
Would I hang it on my wall, (the acid test)?
Yes.

It’s failed the test for me then, as I couldn’t live with all that red. Other than that it’s a truly excellent portrait, imho.

did he make a mistake in the background at the last minute and paint over it in the first colour that came to hand?

My first thought too, Elegran!

I love it. Incredibly striking and a brilliant likeness.

Yeo himself (aged 53).

“ It was a privilege and pleasure to have been commissioned by The Drapers’ Company to paint this portrait of His Majesty The King, the first to be unveiled since his Coronation. When I started this project, His Majesty The King was still His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, and much like the butterfly I’ve painted hovering over his shoulder, this portrait has evolved as the subject’s role in our public life has transformed. I do my best to capture the life experiences and humanity etched into any individual sitter’s face, and I hope that is what I have achieved in this portrait. To try and capture that for His Majesty The King, who occupies such a unique role, was both a tremendous professional challenge, and one which I thoroughly enjoyed and am immensely grateful for.”

UGH! The entire thing is absolutely hideous! It looks like he's swimming in blood.

I like the actual portrait, but still don’t understand why it’s red.

Considering what some portraits are like, this is better than some.

I think the facial portrait shows a compasionate,kind person. I quite like the merging of the figure and background colours but not the swirls. A success nevertheless

Rubbish 🤨

The face is good. The rest of it - not so much.

Absolutely love it. The overall red takes the onus off the Kings red uniform and the instead concentrates on how he actually looks. Love the Butterfly.

I love it too .

Reminds me of something along the lines of Dantes Inferno!

I love it. It is different, modern and a little abstract. The artist captures Charles’ warmth of personality really well.

I really like it

nanna8

The face is good. The rest of it - not so much.

My thoughts exactly.
Brilliant and complimentary likeness of him facially but the rest is a bit too satanic for me!