Rare Portrait Of Princess Diana In Deep Thought Is On Show In London
The People’s Princess, in an incredibly rare painting, will now greet the public at the Masterpiece London Art Fair through July 6. The artwork previously made headlines after being resurfaced from the studio of its late artist Nelson Shanks in New York before being auctioned for US$201,600 last year.
The oil painting, a head study of the late princess done in practice for a full-length portrait, sees her eyes cast downwards in melancholy and contemplation as she dons a green halter neck dress.
With this picture, Diana joins the ranks of other prominent figures who sat for Shanks, including Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Luciano Pavarotti.
The Catherine Walker green velvet halter dress was Shank’s original choice for the original portrait. However, after the head study was complete, the royal changed into a white blouse and blue skirt. The final portrait was hung in Kensington Palace and eventually moved to her family home of Althorp house.
Diana Spencer eventually used the dress in a photoshoot for Vanity Fair magazine. While the final outfit was more appropriate, Shanks could see how the green dress suited the muse and her personality better.
The painting was commissioned by Kensington Palace and completed just three years before her untimely passing in 1997. The sittings took place during the height of the very public and distressing breakdown of her marriage to Prince Charles and the paparazzi taking over her life.
Over the 30 sittings that it took to complete the portrait, Diana struck up a friendship with Shanks and his wife Leona, citing her visits for the portrait as a place of refuge during such a trying period in her life. Both the study and final portrait perfectly reflect how a situation such as the one she was put in could affect someone and how she carried herself with grace right to the end.
[via CNN and Philip Mould & Company, cover image via Philip Mould & Company]
