The Duchess of Cambridge is
a life force, and this painting is dead as the dodo. It has reduced an animated
human being to the status of a dummy; a beautiful woman to a strangely boring
doll.
The real Duchess of Cambridge
cheers everyone up with her radiant smile.
However, the figure in this
painting is wistful, slightly petulant and actually unrecognizable as Our Kate.
It has also made her body a rather weird shape inside the glossy green dress.
It is said that the camera
never lies, but to my mind, this painting reveals how untrue that is.
I have no idea whether the
artist worked from life studies – although given the busy schedules of the Duke
and Duchess of Cambridge, I rather doubt it for the impression is of a painful
over-dependency on photographs.
In his attempt to convey
absolute photographic accuracy, the artist has managed to make both the figures
completely lifeless.
A good portraitist – whether a
photographer or a painter, sees into the life of his subject.
