Royal portraits unveiled tomorrow

Tomorrow at the National History Museum at Frederiksborg Castle, Denmark's first official portrait of Crown Princess Mary is unveiled. It has been executed by the Australian artist Ralph Heimans, who makes links between Mary's old and new homelands in a way which accentuates her particular background.

The Heimans portrait will be the focus of an exhibition called 'Australian Visit' which includes more than 50 works on loan from the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra, including the gallery's portrait of Crown Princess Mary by the Sydney artist Jiawei Shen. The exhibition also features a selection of Ralph Heimans' past commissions from London, Paris and Sydney.

The 'Australian Visit' exhibition is a collaboration between Australia's National Portrait Gallery and the Museum of National History in Denmark, which is also the National Portrait Gallery of Denmark.

The core of the exhibition is more than 50 portraits which present an engaging view of Australian achievement and personalities.

The collaboration between the two institutions began when both commissioned portraits of Crown Princess Mary for their respective collections. An Australian artist, Ralph Heimans, was chosen to execute the Danish commission, while the Chinese-born Australian Jiawei Shen made the portrait for Canberra. Both portraits provide an opportunity to compare interpretative approaches to the genre of royal portraiture. The exhibition is intended as an expression of the Danish-Australian relationship as one of many cultural exchanges in the present.

1. 2. 3.
4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

1. and 2. Frederiksborg Castle in Hillerød was built as a royal residence for King Christian IV, and is now The Museum of National History.
3. Ralph Heimans, the artist of the Danish commissioned portrait of Mary.
4. Jiawei Shen, the artist commissioned to paint Mary by the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra.
5. Jiawei Shen's portrait of Mary
6. 7. 8. and 9. Some studies and collages done by Jiawei Shen.
10. and 11. Some royals have already seen Jiawei Shen's work. King Carl Gustav and Queen Silvia of Sweden saw the portrait when they visited Canberra last year.

On another note, Billed-Bladet reports that Ralph Heimans has found Mary to be a wonderful subject since they met 10 months ago (last May). During that time he has made five visits to The Chancellery House at Fredensborg, where Crown Prince Frederik dropped in on proceedings to check out how things were going. Heimans says he was nervous to begin with because he hadn't painted a royal before, but Mary was so down-to-earth and charming that she put him at ease and made him feel welcome straight away. So far nothing has been revealed about the painting except that it is painted in oil and is 1.7 metres high and 2.5 metres wide.

A little preview of some of the other works in the exhibit:



(Nick Cave, Ian Thorpe, Cathy Freeman, Jørgen Jürgensen (1780-1841), (_), Gough Whitlam, Germaine Greer, Rupert Murdoch, Peter Doherty, Woureddy)


Links:
Ralph Heimans
The Copenhagen Post: Jiawei Shen
Ann Holt's Circumnavigating the Island (Tasmania)
Australske portrætter– en søgen efter national identitet
Royal Commission - Jiawei Shen
Portrait painter Jiawei Shen
Jiawei Shen portfolio
National Portrait Gallery - Portrait Features
B.T. 'Mary unveils herself' (in Danish)
Sydney Morning Herald -- 'Portrait of man on train about to paint Princess Mary'

1. DRWs feature: Australian visit 2005

Mary and Frederik, sunburned and fresh from a day's sailing, at Government House, Sydney on March 3, 2005 at a State Dinner hosted by the Governor Professor Marie Bashir. Frederik and Mary arrived at Government House during a wild Sydney electrical storm (dramatic, thunder, lightning!) but didn't look too worse for wear.

This time last year Mary and Frederik were leaving Australia to return to Denmark after a whirlwind visit which combined official events, Farr 40 sailing and private time with Mary's family and friends. For DRWs first special feature we revisit the fun of that first return to Australia for Mary and Frederik as Crown Princess and Crown Prince.

Frederik arrived solo in Sydney on 20 February to compete in the Farr 40 world championships. He was out on the water sailing in his boat Nanoq with the crew on 21 February, then sailed in the pre-championship races before the March 1-4 championship regatta. Nanoq means 'ice bear' in Greenlandic which is the polar bear that symbolises Greenland in Scandinavia. Frederik has a strong connection to Greenland following the Expedition Sirius 2000 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 and 6. We got a good look at Frederik's shark tattoo which is the insignia of the Danish Navy's elite frogman corps and his other tattoo on his left bicep which features his navy nickname 'Pingo' (means penguin and hints at a famous Danish cartoon character). Frederik will compete in this year's Farr 40 regatta in Newport, Rhode Island in September and was pivotal in winning the competition to Denmark for 2007. In 2005 it was the first time Frederik had sailed the boat in competition and up against some of the toughest and best sailors in the world he came 25th (full CYCA results).

Frederik in some sailing action for the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship, Sydney, March 1 - 4, 2005


Links:
CYCA: Rolex Farr 40 Worlds 2005
Farr 40 World Championship
Regatta News

Then came Mary, and they were two

Mary flew into Sydney on February 25 with much anticipation for her arrival. She then went to the Shangri-La Hotel and 2 at Circular Quay where the Danish visitors were staying and to be re-united with Frederik. As an aside, we now know Mary was pregnant at the time of the visit. The next day Mary engaged in some private activities while Frederik was still sailing and before the official part of the visit began. Mary was said to be a little nervous about returning to her mother country as a newly-minted royal, according to an admission in an interview in the Danish fashion industry magazine »Dansk«, but she needn't have worried as she, and Frederik, were greeted warmly everywhere they went. Mary and Frederik attended a cocktail party at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia at Rushcutters Bay at the end of the Farr 40 championship. The sailing theme continued at a return Match Race between Mary and Frederik on Sydney Harbour which mirrored the race before the May 2004 wedding in Copenhagen.

Mary won the first time round as we know and then she won the second, but she did have some impressive sailing help both times. On February 28 Frederik and Mary attended a State Lunch at Governor Macquarie Tower with the NSW politerati. Frederik made a speech to the Premier of New South Wales: "Since arriving in Sydney I’ve spent most of my time on the water. However, yesterday on the water was something very special...."

Mary and Frederik attended the Australian Red Cross 90th Anniversary Gala Ball and 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 (the Danish Royal Family has a long association with the Danish version). On March 4 Mary visited the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Insitute in Darlinghurst. Mary attended the VCCRI royal ball, for which she is the Honorary Life Governor. Frederik and Mary attended a State Dinner at the Gothic Government House, in the Royal Botanic Gardens. In his speech Frederik said: "The crown princess and I have looked very much forward to our time in Australia. A time that in many ways is remarkably different from our previous trips to Australia. And the difference lies primarily in the fact that today we visit Australia as the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Denmark..."
Link: the Sydney Opera House

Mary also sat for a portrait by Jiawei Shen commissioned to hang in the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra. This is the portrait which will travel to Denmark shortly to be exhibited at the Frederiksborg Museum.


Frederik and Mary celebrated the 200th anniversary of the birth of Hans Christian Andersen at the Opera House and they unveiled a new bust in Observatory Park in The Rocks (which is also the place they met in September 2000). This is Frederik's speech to appoint HCA 2005 ambassadors in Sydney. Mary went to the Children's Hospital at Westmead, a Red Cross refuge in Coogee and both were at a fundraiser for cancer research and on a visit to the Danish Church at Pennant Hills. They went book shopping in their down time, went to various cafes and restaurants and climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge.




Continued in part 2
The DRWs team.

Subject: Mary!

The Sydney Morning Herald today reports on some artistic pursuits:

Portrait of man on train about to paint Princess Mary


Chosen to paint the official Danish portrait of Princess Mary ... Australian artist Ralph Heimans as he painted himself riding on the Metro in Paris. His royal work will be taken to Copenhagen next week.

By Valerie Lawson
March 11, 2006

IN a Paris studio, the final brushstrokes have been made on Princess Mary. Next week, she will embark on a hush hush journey to Denmark.
Not the princess herself, but Denmark's first official portrait of Mary, painted by Ralph Heimans, 35, an Australian artist who lives in Paris.
During the nine months that Heimans has been travelling to Copenhagen for the sittings, there has been a total clampdown on news of the painting and preparations for the unveiling.
The Danish authorities have recently recruited Jeremy Mitchell, public affairs manager at the Australian high commission in London, to co-ordinate publicity for the event, to be held on April 7 at the Museum of National History, based in Frederiksborg Castle, near Copenhagen.
Heimans said the Danish Government wanted "everything done through diplomatic channels, through safe channels. They wanted to make sure things were controlled. This is the official portrait for Denmark".
He said that the work will be "an amazingly different sort of portrait … It's going to be exciting in that regard".
A brief mention in Danish on the Museum of National History website reveals that the portrait will be "drawing up the lines between her old and new country, and in this way, [will] underline her special background".
Heimans, who has painted Justice Michael Kirby, Tom Uren, arts benefactor Caroline Simpson and Bill Waterhouse, among many others, is a past finalist in the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize.
Working on commission, he has painted a great many lawyers, among them Robert Stitt, QC. In England, he said, QCs "line up" to have their portraits painted by him. He has been commissioned by the European Court in Luxembourg, the Australian Army and the Supreme Court of NSW.
Heimans was one of a small number of Australian artists whose names were put forward to the Danish museum by Andrew Sayers, director of the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra. The gallery has three Heimans works in its collection.
Last year it commissioned another portrait of Princess Mary. The Sydney artist Jiawei Shen painted a lifesize, formal portrait, showing the princess in a long blue dress.
The portrait was hung in the gallery last October.
A press report of Shen's commission also briefly mentioned that Heimans was to paint Princess Mary. According to Heimans, this sent the Danish authorities into a flurry.
They decided that no further news of his portrait would appear until the publicity campaign begins, in about a week.
The Heimans portrait of Princess Mary, along with Shen's portrait, will be the focus of an exhibition called Australian Visit at Denmark's Museum of National History.
The exhibition, also opening on April 7, includes more than 50 portraits on loan from the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra, among them those of Kylie Minogue, Dame Joan Sutherland, Elle Macpherson, Rupert Murdoch, Gough Whitlam, Germaine Greer, Rolf Harris and Ian Thorpe. smh.com.au




Jaiwei Shen's portrait of Mary painted last year is currently hanging at its home in the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra, but it will soon make the journey to Denmark for the exhibition at the National History Museum at Frederiksborg Castle.

Links:
Ralph Heimans' homepage
Jaiwei Shen