Princess Diana sat for 35 hours over the course of 30 sittings for this ‘rare’ portrait

The painting, which is an oil sketch, shows the former member of the British royal family in a pensive mood, with her eyes looking downwards. It was a “preparatory study” for a formal full-length portrait by American artist Nelson Shanks, which was completed in 1994, almost three years before Diana tragically died in a car accident in Paris.

In January this year, it made headlines when it was sold at a Sotheby’s auction for $201,600 (INR 1,59,16,501).

According to the website of Philip Mould & Company, the London-based art gallery showcasing the painting at the Masterpiece London Art Fair — from June 30 to July 6 — the “extraordinary head study of Diana”, who was often hailed as the ‘People’s Princess’, was done as “the Princess sought refuge from the maelstrom of publicity that attended her faltering marriage to Prince Charles”.

 

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For the painting, Diana — mother of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex — sat for 35 hours over the course of 30 sittings at Shanks’ London studio and became close friends with him and his wife, Leona. The princess even confided in a letter that “…coming to the studio was a safe haven, so full of love and support.”

Diana was considered to be highly fashionable and in this painting, she can be seen wearing a green velvet halter-neck dress by Catherine Walker. According to the website, she was photographed by Mario Testino wearing the same dress for the June 1997 issue of Vanity Fair, and it was included in an exhibition on Diana’s fashion legacy, ‘Diana: Her Fashion Story at Kensington Palace’ in 2017.

When she was being painted, her personal life was in a state of turmoil — divorce with Prince Charles had become a national obsession, and the press accused her of having extramarital affairs. But, “Diana was able to commit so wholeheartedly to the portrait sittings”.

It is said that the painting, therefore, captures dexterously both her “outer persona” as well as her “inner person”.

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