A REGAL PORTRAIT MONDAY!

Lucien Freud, Queen Elizabeth II

This Portrait Monday we bring you the Queen Elizabeth II, painted by artist Lucian Freud who is considered one of Europe's greatest Modern artists.  Originally from Germany, and the grandson of famous psychologist Sigmund Freud, his family and him moved to England in 1933 to escape persecution.  His early works were formal and controlled, but this evolved into his well-known style of thick impasto paint and subtle shifts in tone, seemingly recreating the flesh of his subjects.  

His painting "Benefits Sleeping Supervisor" was sold for 33 million, setting a record for British artists at the time.  Even the queen wanted her portrait done by him, the general public rallied against it saying she looked depressed and old, however on this matter, Elizabeth had "no comment".