Portrait of the Queen Goes Under Analysis
Re “For Some Britons, Portrait of the Queen Is Not a Pretty Picture” (Dec. 22), about the new Lucian Freud portrait of Queen Elizabeth II: Why is anybody in the least bit surprised? All of Freud’s portrait subjects end up looking like cadavers in a morgue. To describe his portraits as being “brutally honest” is being far too kind; there is something terribly misanthropic and misogynistic about his portrait work that is very unpleasant to look at. Even beautiful people look ghastly after he has attacked them.
As for poor old Queen Elizabeth, a hedgehog on a 10-lane freeway would have a better chance of coming out unscathed!
John Barbey
San Francisco
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I studied Freud’s portrait of the queen. I think she is trying not to laugh, perhaps at the anticipated public reaction to the portrait.
Larry Rieder
San Diego
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Artist Freud went a bit overboard on the queen’s face, but he got the hairdo right!
Elinor Lynch
Palm Desert
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