2024 Art News: King Charles III Portrait, British Museum Recovers Missing Objects
Matteo Fiorelli is an alumnus of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze in Italy, where he earned his degree in Painting and Visual Arts. His vibrant, abstract works draw inspiration from the Renaissance and modern street art, merging classical techniques with urban influences. Matteo has exhibited his paintings in galleries throughout Italy and France.
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Re: it's harder to fake art these days (currently?) bc of documentation and highly demanding provenance? See my previous comment. For master works, and very famous artwork, there are/were some very good fakes and artists who fake…modern day and long ago. But the art world today DOES have better high tech tools like super microscopes and scanners & other machines that can analyze the chemical composition of the paint.
late to this but the first time i saw this i thought it was not finished. i thought they did the under painting and gave up 🤷♀ now i see sheogorath and think he looks very sad. i have a 6 and a 10 year old… they don't know this guy and have not seen the painting… now i want to ask them about it.
Also don’t forget about the goat in the background
I absolutely love this painting. Understanding his life and having that life with a Mother as a Queen, let alone Elizabeth, his life WAS hell. The queen we know today was not the queen of yesterday. Not a fan of Camila, but as a grown man he wasn't even allowed to marry the woman he loved, let alone all of the other millions of things he wasn't able to do. Having no autonomy for decades puts you in a state of hell and makes one a hellion. Take away the "hellion" reference, we see here his face is a bit rounder and softer and his hands are also softly resting on the sword. He isn't gripping or man-handling the sword so, to me, a softer face and hands indicate a man and King that is welcoming and loving and not the opposite.
It's unclear what the red is supposed to convey, and whether he's sinking into or emerging from the background. It's very difficult to 'read', and the feelings it evokes in me is confusion.
I thick this portrait is spot on! It captures the character of the man we know Charles to be rather than the fantasy of the "King"!!! I mean even Camilla agrees and I don't agree with her on anything!!!
I saw it as an individuality wanting to emerge from the red = pomp found everywhere as the symbol of power of the monarchy. Also, the background kind of washes away the uniform.
Further along: I love the Camilla portrait. Very quiet. As if she just wants to stay hidden from the crowds.
Charles is dying of cancer obviously. Butterfly is mortality
I really like the piece. I don't view it as trolling, though. I see it as a complicated treatment of the subject matter. I do feel the impression of blood, war, and chaos in the background. I see the butterfly as the transformation of death, given his cancer diagnosis. To me, his uniform blending in with the bloody background symbolizes the dying of the royal institution as a whole. And I think his face is painted kindly, given his actual appearance. I feel like his expression is a mixture. I do see the undercurrent of evil. But mostly he just looks beleaguered. Tired. His smile looks not genuine but also not smug or proud. It looks dutiful, like "I have to make some kind of expression; here's my attempt at a smile." It is all an obligation rather than a pleasure, which, I think, summarizes his life.
Nothing here is phony
A gold frame would have made a world of difference and been a vast improvement in the Charles portrait. It would have changed the message/vibe.
the news " someone stole a shit ton of artifacts from the British museum" me: starts singing Justin Timberlake 🎶" what goes around, comes around, goes around, comes all the way back around," 🎶🤣🤣 also im convinced that there is real blood actually on that painting. It's obviously demonic . Metamorphosis and rebirth of who? Satan?! 😈 🤣 The only thing missing is a few human hairs. 💀🤣 But either way the painting is absolutely incredible.and As a horror movie freak and someone who tends to be attracted to and create morbid,emotional art myself. I think it's very evident the painting is straight out of a nightmare. I find it very hard to believe that the royal family would actually put this on a wall of their home🤣.like, imagine being a child visiting your grandpa and walking past a gigantic painting
of him like this 🤣
id be soooo convinced my grandpa was the devil 🤣
Looks like he should be holding a pitchfork instead of a sword. I love this painting, but I totally agree that it's not fit to be the official portrait of the king. He looks more like England's dictator.
It would have been far more interesting to see a portrait of the King not done by an establishment nepo baby, whose dad is a former government minister (albeit a hilariously compromised one), who rose to fame by licking the boots of the famous and powerful, which is why people look at his paintings, not because he has anything to say or is breaking any new ground.
I think if you look at the stance of the artist in the photo to me, it is a rather belligerent stance. I would love to hear from someone knowledgeable in body language.
I like it but it's not appropriate for a monarch
Looks like a floating head. Might be my eyesight …….
In a current Hperallergic article about the portrait, they term Yeo's style "disrupted realism". Also, it's my understanding that the Royal Family didn't commission the painting. The Worshipful Company of Drapers (an ancient but still operating guild) did engage Yeo to do the portrait. And a P.S.: IMO, the British Museum's cataloguing work, or lack thereof, is probably what happens when there aren't enough staff for the task.
The painting is no laughing matter. To me, it's Diana's blood and him, Charles, with a smug look like, he got away with something. Didn't he?
Loved this discussion! Would you consider doing an analysis of the Kehinde Wiley portrait of Obama? I would request that you, Prof Clara Lieu, and Teaching Artist Deepti Menon discuss this.
To me theres no contrast except his face so he looks like a floating head… A colorist I watch changed the red to blues and had light and mid tones …looked much more appealing.
I feel like the artist knew this would be controversial and wanted the PR
Maybe hes saying being the monarch is hell
If you cut the portrait in half and mirror both sides it’s very clear imagery of the devil. Their money does this too when split in 4. I was skeptical at first until I saw it. It’s very obvious it was done purposely.
Re: how the theft could affect the British Museum receiving objects from patrons. I work at a museum of antiquities, and we almost never accept new donations from patrons. Most collecting and accessioning for this type of museum stopped a long time ago. The problem is that provenance is incredibly murky, and while museums like this have a complicated history, they tend to avoid repeating that history by adding more objects.
I am not a royalist but I think Jonathan Yeo is not negative or trolling at all. I believe red is the royal colour and King Charles slowly emerges from being part of the royal onus to being himself. He is not only an artist himself but has always been keen on protecting the environment when everybody was still shaking their heads at "those nerds", hence the monarch butterfly reference.
One could even presume that he would like to move forward one step with the butterfly and leave the red background behind him. Of course the artist is not going to talk about all his and the King's musings during the four sittings. They may have had some very personal exchanges…
Camilla's portrait can be explained by her history, I think. She always had to blend into the background. The rigid pillars may well be a reference to the open prison she was in in the past. Seeing her and Charles' potrait I see a lot of warmth and their eyes sparkle. Am I the only one who sees this?
Oh, and by the way, EVERYONE loves Diana! I still cry when I see any report on Diana or hear "English Rose" by Elton John!
I am German but an anglophile and my in-law family are British non-royalists of Caribbean/Asian descent (and have seen the massive amount of (stolen) exhibts at the British Museum).
Considering the destruction that the royal family has caused ..I’d say it suits him
The artist had a heart attack part way while doing the commission and reports having an out of body experience. Charles craves attention and Camilla loves a joke. The portrait will be discussed down the centuries. Monarch butterfly = MKULTRA.
I love this painting. It’s very flattering
It's a good painting. y'all be trippin'. … 🙂
This painting reminds me of the glow achieved by Bonnard
Charles has a reputation for being rather dull and emotionless. I think this painting is supposed to show him as bold. I like it. Plus isn’t this the same artist who did the brilliant collage of George Bush using porn magazines?
I looooved Deepti's comments on the Charles painting, she destroyed him!! 🤣🤣🤣 (very deserved) but also I thought the same about the butterfly: it feels as if it's gonna burst in fire the moment it lands on his shoulder. I think there's a feeling of pride in that depiction, and I think he was totally aware of how it would be perceived. It probably boosted his ego, especially now that he's not very healthy and the British royal family are SO out of fashion.
another add on to the portrait of king charles, butterflies are scavengers. They eat corpses like vultures. So I took it as down with the king.
The artist of Charles portrait always adds a hidden joke about the sitter. I think the joke in this one is the based on him being recorded telling his mistress he wanted to be a tampon.
This is the portrait a British monarch deserves. The butterfly is a little on the nose, though. He looks smug, but I don't think that's something he help. How else would you look if you grew up believing you were ordained by God to rule a nation?
My first thought was, "oh, a work in progress." It just didn't look finished to me
Maybe he was watching The Shining as he was painting..”Red rum, Red rum”…… looks like he’s drowning in blood!
Diana’s blood
I think you can interpret it as the "first human face out of a blood bath". This way it is flattering.
But it's made as provocative and interpretation rich as possible, which makes it very probable to get really really famous and world renowned. So I admire and congratulate the author.
It’s is bad you guys know it(the red) compare to other paintings he made it was so drastic!!! Everybody is thinking “ ohh! the background is not finished yet? Of course, we respect the artist choice. He alone knows why he did the background bloody red.
No Deepthi , Diana was mourned in South Asia .
You are exactly right .
Not just Immigrant ones , but everyone .
And as you said , Colonization ( and now Imperialism) gives us ( us and the Global south ) a very special lense to view the Royal family and US etc and happenings now with.
And this particular painting as I said Charles makes this bloody ,
Otherwise I do like the way the many shades of red pink purple interact in the background …
It reminds me of the Picture of Dorian Grey . Too creepy.
I love Deepti’s idea of showing the painting to five-year-olds! 😅😂I'm going to share it with my son and see what he thinks of it.
He’s wearing a military uniform and carrying a weapon looking twenty years younger. I think the artist worked from an old photograph. It’s an awful composition. What else are we supposed to think other than threatened by those dark eyes, military and bloody references.
This portrait won’t be forgotten. I think that was the effect the artist wanted to achieve. Remember the Julian Freud painting of QE2.
Pretty amazing. I’m an avid watcher of “portrait artist of the year” any one of those winners could do far better than this one or the one of Katherine . Could not even recognize her.
I like the painting. I think its realistic of his face. Very clever the way the face is contrasted with a totally overpainted uniform and yet brought forward. There are massacres on, his dynasty was born in blood. Maybe its an apology.
Charlie Sausage-Fingers response to the portrait said it all! He literally turned his back on it and moved away 🤣🤣🤣
Charles is painted…the mouth is in a smirk, a self-satisfied smirk, but with very dark eye: the window to the soul. His body is covered in Red everywhere but this head,so he knows the history of bloodshed & acknowledges the history of the military uniform, & sword hence the wars (colonialism) but it does not touch him or his soul, it’s outside of him. Although the oversized hand/fingers with some red overcoming them-perhaps he has signed something in public that he feels some guilt there. But overall, he takes no responsibility for it, he is not touched by it. To me, the butterfly is an afterthought, suggestion of the ‘monarch’, should have been deleted.