“She was an iconic person to paint, it was good to challenge myself to do something different and incorporate lots of different things about her life.”
In May 2022, ahead of the Queen’s Jubilee, Hello Magazine partnered with Ben to create a unique portrait and tribute to the longest-serving female monarch in history.
Naturally, as a fan of the royal family, Ben embraced the opportunity to step out of his usual domain of cityscapes and sporting artworks.
Combining the visuals of a stained-glass window with a selected photograph, Ben used his trademark expressionist style, heavy with uses of 24 karat gold, copper and palladium, to create this stunning portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.
“Gold and monarchs go hand in hand, so it really suits the subject. I use a lot of real gold in my work. I like the reflective qualities of the metals.”
In addition to the full feature and pullout poster being included in the print magazine, Hello! published a full article on the piece, available here. The National Portrait Gallery have also conducted an interview with Ben, to learn more about this project and his work in general.
To observe just a fraction of the painstaking process that takes place – in order to create a portrait of this standard – Ben had his media team visit his studio and document the whole process, from start to finish. This is available to view below.
