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Session 7. Annigoni 1955, Freud 2001: two painters, one Queen

An icon and a confrontation: the portrait that flatters and the portrait that divides.

Key question: Is a royal portrait a likeness, a myth or a work of art?
55 minutes: Recap 5 min · Point du professeur 10 min · Document 8 min · Vocabulary 7 min · Grammar 12 min · Figures and idioms 6 min · Task 7 min
Key words for today
Recap · marked /3

What we already know

Quick quiz (one point each)

  1. Why did she wear bright colours?
  2. Tense: Historians (study) ______ these portraits for centuries.
  3. What did the Queen wear at Caernarfon in 1969?
Answers
  1. To be seen in crowds.
  2. have been studying
  3. A pale primrose-yellow coat and tunic and a Tudor-style hat by Simone Mirman.

1Le point du professeur10 min

Pour le professeur

Pour comparer deux portraits et nuancer un jugement, les élèves ont besoin d'adverbes (manière, degré, phrase) bien placés et de comparatifs nuancés (far more, slightly less, by no means as... as, nowhere near as). On part de deux jugements opposés de la presse de 2001.

Starting point

Annigoni painted her romantically; Freud painted her uncompromisingly. Arguably, Freud's tiny canvas is far more revealing.

Types of adverbs and position

Nuanced comparison

Help: sentence adverbs give your opinion: Admittedly (I agree that), Arguably (one can say), Frankly (honestly).

2The document8 min

Pietro Annigoni, 1955. Commissioned by the Fishmongers' Company, the Italian painter's portrait shows the young Queen in the dark robes of the Order of the Garter, standing against a distant landscape. She gave him about fifteen sittings. Exhibited in 1955, it became one of the most reproduced images of her, a romantic icon. It hangs in Fishmongers' Hall, London. Annigoni painted her again, more austerely, in 1969 (National Portrait Gallery). Both works are protected by copyright: see the Fishmongers' Company page and The Art Newspaper.

Lucian Freud, 2001. The Queen sat for Freud between May 2000 and December 2001 in a studio at St James's Palace. The painting is tiny (23.5 × 15.2 cm). At Freud's request she wore the Diamond Diadem, the crown she wears on stamps and banknotes. The BBC called it "uncompromising"; the director of the National Portrait Gallery called it "thought-provoking and psychologically penetrating" (BBC News, 20 December 2001). Others were shocked. The critic Adrian Searle wrote in The Guardian: "what an audacious portrait!" (The Guardian, 21 December 2001). See the painting on the Royal Collection Trust website (search "Lucian Freud").

Little-known facts. Freud compared painting such a famous face to "a polar expedition". When the work was finished, the Queen told him she had "very much enjoyed watching you mix your colours". They talked about horse racing, a passion they shared.

Compare with what you know. Think back to Sutherland and Churchill (session 4). Freud's Queen did not destroy her portrait: it entered the Royal Collection.

Understanding the document

  1. Who commissioned Annigoni's portrait?
  2. How does Annigoni present the Queen?
  3. What is surprising about the size of Freud's portrait?
  4. Why the Diamond Diadem?
  5. Sum up the reactions in 2001.
  6. How did the Queen react, unlike Churchill?
Answers
  1. The Fishmongers' Company, a London livery company.
  2. Young, calm, idealised, in Garter robes against a landscape: a romantic icon.
  3. It is tiny, 23.5 × 15.2 cm, for such a monumental subject.
  4. Freud asked for it: it is the crown of stamps and banknotes, the official image.
  5. Divided: praised as penetrating and audacious, criticised as harsh and unflattering.
  6. She accepted it graciously and joked about watching him mix his colours.

3Building your vocabulary

WordMeaning
a brushstroke, impastoa mark of paint; thick paint
idealised, romanticisedmade more beautiful than reality
unsparing, unflinchingshowing everything without softening
a likeness, lifelikea resemblance; looking real
severe, dour, sternserious, unsmiling
to divide opinion, controversialto provoke opposite reactions
an icon, iconica famous image that symbolises something
a diadem, a tiaraa small jewelled crown
a livery companyan old London trade association (fishmongers, goldsmiths)
to sit for, a sittingto pose; a posing session

Exercise 1. Positive, negative or neutral?

Classify the adjective as used in art criticism.

  1. idealised
  2. unflinching
  3. dour
  4. lifelike
  5. controversial
  6. iconic
Answers
  1. neutral or negative (not truthful)
  2. positive (honest) or negative (harsh)
  3. negative
  4. positive
  5. neutral
  6. positive

Exercise 2. Paraphrase

Rewrite with a word from the table.

  1. The painting provoked opposite reactions.
  2. He showed every wrinkle without softening anything.
  3. She posed for him many times.
  4. It looks very real.
Answers
  1. The painting divided opinion.
  2. His portrait was unsparing (unflinching).
  3. She gave him many sittings.
  4. It is lifelike.

4Grammar in practice

From recognition to open production.

RecognitionExercise 3. Type of adverb

Manner, degree, frequency or sentence adverb?

  1. Arguably, it is his best work.
  2. She sat patiently.
  3. an utterly unexpected result
  4. Royal portraits rarely show age.
  5. Ironically, the harshest portrait was the one she kept.
Answers
  1. sentence adverb
  2. manner
  3. degree
  4. frequency
  5. sentence adverb

Controlled practiceExercise 4. Place the adverb

Insert it correctly.

  1. Freud painted her. (uncompromisingly)
  2. The painting is small. (remarkably)
  3. It is more revealing than Annigoni's. (far)
  4. Critics agree. (seldom)
  5. It is a masterpiece. (undeniably)
Answers
  1. Freud painted her uncompromisingly.
  2. The painting is remarkably small.
  3. It is far more revealing than Annigoni's.
  4. Critics seldom agree.
  5. Undeniably, it is a masterpiece. / It is undeniably a masterpiece.

TransformationExercise 5. Nuanced comparisons

Rewrite with the structure given.

  1. Annigoni's portrait is much more flattering than Freud's. (nowhere near as)
  2. Freud's canvas is very much smaller. (considerably)
  3. If you look longer, you see more. (the more ... the more)
  4. Annigoni is not as famous as Freud among critics. (by no means)
Answers
  1. Freud's portrait is nowhere near as flattering as Annigoni's.
  2. Freud's canvas is considerably smaller.
  3. The longer you look, the more you see.
  4. Annigoni is by no means as famous as Freud among critics.

AccuracyAccuracy check. Find the mistake

Each sentence contains one mistake. Find it and correct it.

  1. Freud painted uncompromisingly her.
  2. Annigoni's portrait is more much flattering.
  3. Freud's portrait is not near as flattering as Annigoni's.
  4. Freud's portrait is by no means as large than Annigoni's.
  5. She has been painted rarely so honestly.
  6. This painting is more small than that one.
Answers
  1. Freud painted her uncompromisingly.
  2. Annigoni's portrait is much more flattering.
  3. Freud's portrait is nowhere near as flattering as Annigoni's.
  4. Freud's portrait is by no means as large as Annigoni's.
  5. She has rarely been painted so honestly.
  6. This painting is smaller than that one.

Open productionExercise 6. Art criticism

Write a 200-word review comparing the two portraits, with four types of adverb (including two sentence adverbs at the start) and three nuanced comparisons.

Help: "Arguably, ...", "Freud's portrait is far more...".

5Figures of speech

Exercise 7. Create

Write one example of each about the portraits.

  1. simile
  2. oxymoron
  3. litotes
Answers
  1. Painting her face was like climbing a glacier.
  2. Freud's small portrait is a monumental miniature.
  3. Freud's work is not exactly a compliment.

6Idioms

beauty is in the eye of the beholder
beauty is a matter of personal opinion.
A proverb in its modern form since the 19th century, popularised by Margaret Wolfe Hungerford's novel Molly Bawn (1878).
Some find Freud's Queen ugly; beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
a far cry from
very different from.
The image of a distant shout.
Freud's Queen is a far cry from Annigoni's.
to take something with a pinch of salt
to be sceptical about something.
From the Latin cum grano salis.
Take tabloid reviews with a pinch of salt.
a picture is worth a thousand words
an image conveys more than a description.
Popular in 20th-century American advertising.
This portrait proves a picture is worth a thousand words.

Exercise 8. Complete

Use an idiom.

  1. His new flat is ______ the tiny room he used to rent.
  2. I found the film boring, but ______.
  3. Read online rumours ______.
  4. Look at this photo: ______.
Answers
  1. a far cry from
  2. beauty is in the eye of the beholder
  3. with a pinch of salt
  4. a picture is worth a thousand words

7Expression task7 min

Debate: "Should a royal portrait flatter or tell the truth?" Two teams, three minutes each, then a structured rebuttal: each speaker must start with a sentence adverb (Admittedly, Undeniably, Arguably).

Exit ticket · formative check
  1. Place: It is beautiful. (strikingly)
  2. Nuance: Freud's portrait is (much) smaller than Annigoni's. Use considerably.
  3. What did the Queen say to Freud?
Answers
  1. It is strikingly beautiful.
  2. Freud's portrait is considerably smaller than Annigoni's.
  3. That she had very much enjoyed watching him mix his colours.

C1+Going further (towards C2)

Truth and power in portraiture (C1+). Compare the "mask of youth" of Elizabeth I (session 6) with Freud's Elizabeth II. 300 words, formal register, with inversion after a negative adverb (Never before had a monarch been painted...; Rarely does...).

HWHomework

Learn the art vocabulary. Choose a portrait in a museum website (give the link) and write a 150-word review with five adverbs and two nuanced comparisons.