By Johanna Gardener •
Updated: 27 Nov 2024 • 22:14 • 3 minutes read
Two portraits of the King and Queen will be going on display after being commissioned by the Bank of Spain and created by American photographer, Annie Leibovitz
For a country so embroiled in budget deficits, economic oscillations and more recently, natural disaster debts, it would seem unfathomable that over €200,000 have been splashed out by the Bank of Spain on something as trivial as a pair of royal portraits.
Portraits of King and Queen to be displayed alongside paintings by Goya
Going back 250 years or so to the painting made by Goya of King Carlos III, this may be more understandable. Without cameras or any form of instant shot media for that matter, there needed to be some way for a disparate population to be able to put a face to a King they would never probably see in their lifetime. Yet in November 2024, amid a time of national crisis, we are presented with a theatre of pure opulence reflected in an exhibition entitled The Tyranny of Cronos, which opens with the two official portraits.
Leibovitz earned €137,000 and €79,000, respectively for royal paintings
There is some consolation in the fact that the pair are delightfully represented. King Felipe, tastefully adorned in a dress uniform of the Spanish Army and Queen Letizia bedecked quite spectacularly in an original design by Cristóbal Balenciaga are enshrined by the perfect setting in a room at the Royal Palace. These portraits were revealed of late for the exhibition and reflect the infallible photographic talent of American photographer, Annie Leibovitz. She was the lucky recipient of €137,000 for the portraits of the King and Queen and €79,000 euros for the portrait of the former governor Pablo Hernández de Cos, presented at the same time as the one of the Royal couple.
Huge paintings of the King and Queen displayed side by side as a diptych
This was no coincidental encounter of a highbrow photographer scouting the perfect models for her prints. The portraits were commissioned by the Bank of Spain and will be made public this Tuesday (invite-only) and added to the royal gallery of official portraits – rubbing shoulders, as aforementioned, with the painting of the same genre by Goya. Two huge paintings, each measuring 223.52 x 170.18 cm will inaugurate the exhibition.
Whether you’re a royalist or not, I have to admit that this will certainly feel a rather auspicious way to open a Spanish art exhibition. The two portraits must be presented as a diptych – side by side – to complement one another, especially given the many gruelling hours, days or months of compatible outfit-selecting.
Royal photographs are made to look like historical portraiture
Despite looking like paintings, there’s a catch. The photographs are printed with UV drying ink (a low-temperature photochemical process) on polyester canvas. This gives the misleading effect of a painting taken, quite possibly, during Goya’s times. Yet a closer look reveals the so-called Saleta (adjacent to the Gasparini Room), in the Royal Palace on an afternoon in February, where the snapshots were taken.
There is, of course, a touching side to this regal display. Felipe VI goes back in time, donning the military attire of his wedding day and proclamation as King. Symbolic or not, he is framed by classical touches including a chandelier, an open door with curtains, and a clock. Outside of the aesthetic, the clock is definitely worth a mention for its historical Spanish legacy, dating back to King Carlos III (a lover of clocks) and for its emblematic positioning. Famous timepieces are featured in other exhibitions – a subtle reference to the changing concept of time within capitalist societies.
Queen Letizia stuns in a Balenciaga dress from 1948
Agreements made between Leibovitz and the Royal couple at the request of the Bank of Spain seem to have been simple enough. Yet some of the finer details were not so clearcut. Letizia for example was adamant to let history live on in her choice of frock. Modelling a dress by master designer Cristóbal Balenciaga, who died in 1972, the dress dates back to 1948. This is complemented by a type of cape worn at the wedding of Prince Juan Carlos and Princess Sofía.
Is it the right time for portraiture of the Royal Family?
In hindsight, the portraits are classical and as some have suggested, make “allusions to Velázquez.” But I remain to be convinced about how relevant they really are in a society, where money is tight, royalism is at stake and where disasters like Valencia flooding suggest that reverence to the King may be dead.
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Written by
Johanna Gardener
Originally from Manchester, UK and with a degree in English with Modern Foreign Languages, she has been a permanent resident in Spain for the past 12 years. Many of these years, she has spent working as a secondary school teacher, as well as in journalism, editing and marketing. She currently lives in the historic centre of Malaga, where she enjoys writing, walking and animals.
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