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| Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother 1938-1945 The Royal Collection |
Kelly was nearly finished by the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. The two paintings were relocated during the war from his studio in London to Windsor Castle where Kelly spent the next five years slowly completing his commission. Kelly remained at Windsor Castle during the war and was kept company by the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose who were sent to the safety of castle for the duration of the war while their parents remained at Buckingham Palace.
Here, we see Queen Elizabeth wearing her coronation robes and regalia. According the the curators of the Royal Collection, Kelly enjoyed his sittings with the Queen and said of her, “It is hard to suggest the admiration and affection which grew all around her. From wherever one looked at her, she looked nice: her face, her voice, her smile, her skin, her colouring - everything was right.”
2 comments:
And yet the portrait seems so empty... Even with the warm light, it seems an odd choice for Kelly to have placed her in such a seemingly cavernous room.
That was my thought, too. Kelly originally wanted the painting set in the crimson drawing room at Buckingham Palace, but after the relocation to Windsor, that was scrapped. I think the austere background owes more to the spirit of WWIi than anything else.
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