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The announcement in November 2010 of Kate Middleton’s engagement to Britain’s Prince William elevated her from private citizen to public figure with the flash of a ring. Kate, who married the Prince in April 2011, is now officially the Duchess of Cambridge. With that title comes many privileges and responsibilities, including sitting for an official portrait.

As one of the most photographed people in the world, Kate hardly needs a painted portrait to promote her beauty, wealth, or authority, but there is no bucking tradition. Britain’s royals have had their likenesses captured on coins, panel, and canvas for hundreds of years. From William the Conqueror to Henry VIII and Queen Victoria to Queen Elizabeth II, monarchs and their families appear in finery and jewels, wearing crowns and bearing scepters, and seeming larger than life. However, when painting Kate Middleton, artist Paul Emsley chose to depict the duchess as a natural, pretty, smiling, young woman. Perhaps that is why the painting has come under fire from both critics and citizens. Most people simply find it boring.

The press reaction toward the picture was overwhelmingly negative. The art critic for the Times of London pronounced it “ordinary;” the Guardian reported that the Duchess looked “undead,” like in the Twilight movies; and the Daily Telegraph critic compared it to a “mawkish book illustration” that might grace the cover of a romance novel. Other complaints note that in the head-and-shoulders portrait, Kate looks 20 pounds heavier and 20 years older—not very flattering. This is not the dynamic, glamorous Kate they have seen in magazines and television. 

It might seem odd that in the age of Instagram, artists are still painting portraits of royalty. Why go to all that effort when a photograph would be easier and convey a more truthful likeness? But creating a great portrait—whether painted, photographed, or computer generated—is trickier than it appears.  An artist uses his or her skill to reveal something intimate about the subject. Poses, gestures, clothing, or props hint at the sitter’s inner life. When the subject is someone constantly in the public eye, like Duchess Kate, we look to a portrait to tell us something deeper: what is she really like behind that smile? The challenge of creating a great, enduring portrait has captivated artists throughout history. Sometimes, they turn the brush or lens on themselves, making self-portraits that explore the role of the artist. Most often, they offer us an alternate view of reality that keeps us fascinated well into the future.

“No photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth.”

—Richard Avedon

The truth is that photographic portraits, while seeming “real,” are often no more truthful than paintings. Photographer Richard Avedon (1923–2004) was aware that he was manipulating the truth when he created strong images of famous and powerful people. Although initially a fashion photographer, Avedon developed a passion for portraits, which allowed him to show the essence of a person.  

Avedon had an uncanny ability to draw people out and make them relax before the camera. Presidents who seemed cold and distant became warm, familiar people in his pictures. Glamorous starlets let down their guard; politicians seemed vulnerable. Some of his portraits are formal, posed against a stark white background with the subject filling the frame. Others show people in motion, bringing a spontaneity and joy to the work.

Avedon’s portrait of the great contralto singer Marian Anderson is a stunning example of what a portrait can communicate. The photographer caught the singer in mid-song, her eyes closed in concentration, her mouth holding a note. Her hair looks like it is blowing in the breeze, as if her strong, deep chords were powerful enough to move the air around her. She is calm but bold, and beautiful but resilient. Indeed, Anderson embodied all of these qualities. In 1939, when denied the opportunity to sing at Washington, D.C.’s Constitution Hall because of her race, Anderson sang instead at the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in dignified protest. Avedon’s image of her evokes her quiet strength. 

Avedon did a photo shoot with the Beatles in 1967 for LOOK Magazine. His iconic images of the Fab Four were made into psychedelic posters. The one of John, with his swirly eyeglasses and shaggy hair illuminated by a brilliant yellow background, screams “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”! Despite the rich clash of color and the obscured eyes, the likeness is unmistakably Lennon. Avedon portrays him as more than a musician. He is a symbol of his time in history and of his generation. It has none of the realism of Emsley’s Duchess Kate, but it is a more powerful, pleasing, and memorable portrait.

Richard Avedon, John Lennon, 1967, offset lithograph, Museum of Modern Art, New York. © 2013 The Richard Avedon Foundation.

“In the future everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes.”

—Andy Warhol

Twentieth-century artist Andy Warhol took photographs of the rich, powerful, beautiful, and himself. In fact, his own life was, perhaps, his greatest subject. Known primarily as a “Pop” artist, Warhol turned the ordinary items of everyday life, such as Campbell soup cans and Coca-Cola bottles, into art. His portraits continued this exploration of advertising and popular culture. 

Warhol used his photographic images as the basis for colorful screenprints of celebrities, such as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, Jackie Kennedy, and, of course, Andy Warhol. In garish colors, or repeated wallpaper-fashion on a single sheet, the portraits seem more like products on a supermarket shelf than prints displayed in a museum. In his many self-portraits, Warhol turned himself into one of these popular commodities and became a symbol of fame as well. Always pictured in his trademark untamed platinum wig, he was one of the most recognized personalities of the last century.

Like a court painter, Warhol used his talent to elevate and flatter his powerful subjects (and himself). His portraits are not simply pictures of the famous; they are symbols of celebrity. Unlike Paul Emsley, he was not interested in depicting a pretty face, but in creating an enduring phenomenon. This, it seems, is what makes portraiture great—whether it is painted in the Dark Ages or scanned in the digital era.

In 1985, Warhol made a set of multicolored screenprints of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth wearing the trappings of royalty—a tiara and jeweled necklace. The prints were recently purchased for the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle. How strange is it that (on a gallery wall) the traditional monarch outshines her glamorous grand-daughter-in-law! Warhol, who once said, “I want to be as famous as the Queen of England,” would have appreciated the irony.

Andy Warhol, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, 1985, screenprint on paper. Lent by the American Fund for the Tate Gallery, courtesy of Eileen and Peter Norton 2000 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./ARS, NY and DACS, London 2009.

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Manager, Digital Education Resources

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Content Specialist, Digital Learning

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