Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition

Interesting show at the Mall Galleries of work by members of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters.

There was a wide range of styles in the show and I was struck by how many people had used egg tempera as a medium. You could also tell that colleges and research bodies seemed to be the main commissioners of pictures. In some cases it would have been nice to know a bit more about the sitter as there were obviously things in the picture which alluded to their work an interests but you weren’t quite sure what they meant.

Pictures that stood out included a Dutch quality picture of Julian Fellows by Teri Anne Scobie, the group portraits by Richard Foster and some great pictures of women by Bendon Kelly.

My favourite however was by Fiona Scott and was called “Henry (Young Farmer)” a very real picture of a young man in ripped jeans and a sweat shirt with a young farmers logo.

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