Two works by the late Portuguese artist Paula Rego have gone on present at No.10 Downing Avenue, the house of the UK prime minister, as a part of a serious re-hang. Based on The Telegraph, Rego’s works— two scenes from her mural Crivelli’s Backyard (1990-91)—are displayed in a room used for prime ministerial conferences with world leaders.
The work have changed portraits of Queen Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh. The portrait of the late Tudor monarch, painted round 1592 by the Flemish artist Marcus Gheeraerts the Youthful, is called the Ditchley Portrait. Based on the Authorities Artwork Assortment (GAC) web site, this work was “painted after a bigger, extra elaborate portrait, as soon as within the assortment at Ditchley Home in Oxfordshire”. The portrait of Raleigh is by an unknown artist.
Conservative management candidate Robert Jenrick informed The Telegraph: “Stripping [Elizabeth I’s] portrait from Downing Avenue, alongside Walter Raleigh’s, appears to betray an odd dislike of our historical past by this Labour Authorities.”
The portrait of Queen Elizabeth I by Marcus Gheeraert the Youthful was moved as a part of “lengthy deliberate” modifications
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However Downing Avenue mentioned the modifications to the show have been “lengthy deliberate, since earlier than the election, and timed to mark 125 years of the Authorities Artwork Assortment”. Earlier this 12 months, prime minister Keir Starmer stoked controversy when he relocated a portrait of the previous Tory chief Margaret Thatcher inside his residence.
The GAC web site confirms that each Rego work—Examine for Crivelli’s Backyard (The Visitation, 1990-91) and Examine for Crivelli’s Backyard (1990-91)—at the moment are on view at No.10.
Crivelli’s Backyard was proven final 12 months on the Nationwide Gallery in London, the place the artist made the monumental mural throughout her Affiliate Artist residency from 1990 to 1992. All through this time she created new works for the exhibition Tales of the Nationwide Gallery, which was offered within the Sunley Room (December 1991-March 1992).
Through the residency, Rego labored within the artist’s studio which was then within the basement of the gallery. The work was impressed by La Madonna della Rondine (The Madonna of the Swallow, after 1490) by the Venetian artist Carlo Crivelli.
Rego is spoken of as a “magic realist” painter; her tableaux weave Portuguese mythologies and scenes from in style Portuguese story books with fairy tales, historic re-enactments and spiritual iconography. She additionally tackled the themes of migration, abortion and despair. In 2019, Rego was interviewed on The Artwork Newspaper’s podcast, A brush with…
The federal government press workplace was contacted for additional remark.
