Portrait of an Endangered Species
King Charles' first official portrait, painted by Jonathan Yeo unveiled
King Charles III by Jonathan Yeo 2024. © His Majesty King Charles III by Jonathan Yeo 2024. Photo by Handout/His Majesty King Charles III by Jonathan Yeo 2024 via Getty Images.The first official portrait of King Charles III since his coronation was unveiled on Tuesday at Buckingham Palace. The very large and vibrant oil on canvas was painted by Jonathan Yeo, who joined the King and Queen for the unveiling. The portrait breaks from traditional official royal portraits with its intense saturation of the color red. It does, however, contain many of the codes of the monarchy, such as Charles’ uniform of the Welsh Guard, medals and a sword. A delicate butterfly appears to be landing on the King’s shoulder, nodding to Charles’ passion for nature, his focus on environmental conservancy and hinting at metamorphosis.
Jonathan Yeo is a British painter who came to prominence in the early 2000’s. He’s been called one of the most in-demand portraitists of our time. Having grown up in London, his focus has been primarily on British personalities, but he has painted several US celebrities and has had a US solo show that caused controversy. Yeo was awarded a commision to paint George W. Bush in 2007 which was later withdrawn. He painted an unauthorized portrait of the US president entitled 'Bush', which garnered him worldwide attention. The portrait, a collage made from clippings from porn magazines, led to Yeo producing more portraits and nudes made in the same way. The US exhibit from this period was titled Porn in the USA.
Reviews of King Charles’ portrait have been mixed, many online saying, “the King looks like he’s guarding the gates of hell, lost in flames, surrounded by demons, bathed in blood, satanic,” etc. These are extraordinary times and Charles is not your average monarch. If we can let go of the royal-hate and stop seeing red for just a moment, a different take on the portrait emerges. It really is a majestic portrayal of an endangered species. Yes, the monarch butterfly has been on the endangered species list since July 2022, but with the growing dissatisfaction over the monarchy and its exorbitant costs, many Brits are pushing to end it. Charles’ challenge is to keep the institution relevant for the present and future generations. If we don’t address humanity’s impact on the environment, the monarchy, like the butterfly, and all of us really, could disappear. And with AI’s looming influence on the artworld, portrait painting, done by the human hand, may also become obsolete.
Assuming we sort this all out, future generations will point to the butterfly and ask “what is it?”. In an interview for the BBC, Jonathan Yeo discussed his conversation with the King on what message he wanted to convey.
"I said, when schoolchildren are looking at this in 200 years and they're looking at the who's who of the monarchs, what clues can you give them?
"He said 'what about a butterfly landing on my shoulder?'"
Charles has offered all of us a powerful and prophetic clue with that comment. Bravo for his continued work on environmental conservancy and congratulations to Jonathan Yeo on this majestic painting. Time will tell if the monarch survives.
The artist discusses his work below…
The portrait is on view at the Philip Mould Gallery in London from the 16th of May until the 14th of June, Mondays to Fridays, from 9.30am until 5.30pm.