Michael Noakes

As the longest-reigning monarch in British history, Queen Elizabeth II is considered one of the most influential public figures of all time.

This highly significant portrait of Queen Elizabeth II is recorded in three versions, the prime being that commissioned for the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment in 1979 to mark the tenth anniversary of Her Majesty becoming their Colonel-in-Chief [fig. 1]. During his long career, Noakes painted numerous important sitters, from prime ministers and presidents to actors and authors: however, he is arguably best known for his naturalistic and sensitive portraits of the Royal Family.

Graciously addressing the viewer, this portrait reveals The Queen in her role as stateswoman. The final portrait was exhibited with the Royal Society of Portrait Painters at the Mall Galleries in 2012 to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee.

The Queen’s Lancashire regiment was formed in 1970, nine years before this portrait, and continued in British Army service until 2006 when it was merged into The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment. By the time this work was painted, Noakes was well acquainted with the Royal Family and had become a trusted artist within the Royal Household. Over the previous five years, Noakes had gained sittings with numerous members of the Royal Family including the Prince of Wales, the Queen Mother, the Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Margaret, and the Princess Royal. Noakes had become especially well acquainted with Her Majesty; whilst most artists who are offered a life sitting with the Queen have the privilege of sitting with her for the standard hour and a half, throughout his career Noakes spent more than twenty hours in official sittings with Her Majesty and, in 1999, he and his wife, Vivian, accompanied the Queen for an entire year, observing her working life and recording it in words and pictures which culminated in the publication of The Daily Life of The Queen: An Artist's Diary. During this time, an intimate relationship formed between artist and sitter, placing Noakes in a unique position in relation to other portrait painters.

Seated gracefully upon a formal, red upholstered chair, this portrait expresses an evolved democratisation of the Queen’s image that had begun to take hold in the 1970’s. Noakes uncovers a moment of quiet composure within the Queen’s busy diary in a persona that combines monarchical singularity with the role of a working woman. Her hands rest elegantly on her lap and she extends her consideration by her benign gaze, expressing both the private and public aspects of the subject in what can be considered her most successful painted image of this period.