Recent Portraits
Cardinal Clancy, 2005/6
Oil on canvas, 42 x 29 inches (107 x 74cm)
When I began to compose this portrait I had in the back of my mind
Velásquez' quintessential portrait: Pope Innocent X, and also
Sargent's Dr. Pozzi. I believe the red on red theme that appears in
both of these works helps in large measure to make them so powerful.
In Cardinal Clancy's portrait I painted the background drapes a rather
cool red using alizarin crimson as the main ingredient, and by contrast
the cardinal's robes are a very warm orangey red, as I principally
used cadmium red light. Because of the timeless and traditional nature
of a cardinal's robes I felt the stone column (representing the cathedral
building) and velvet drapes in the background would best support the
mood I wanted to evoke in this picture.
I have tried to capture a mixture of fragility and strength in the
cardinal's expression. Cardinal Clancy, now in his mid eighties, was
formerly the Archbishop of Sydney, and this portrait was commissioned
in his honour, to hang in St. Mary's Cathedral House.
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