Why did Queen Charlotte hate this portrait of herself? | Thomas Lawrence's 'Queen Charlotte'

"Most perfect likeness!" You know what people LOVE? When you say you hate a picture of yourself, and they're all like, "But it looks just like you!"

Poor woman looks absolutely exhausted.

I think it is a compliment to Sir Thomas that the Queen didn’t take to the portrait. He has captured her sadness and stress of her situation at the time wonderfully and maybe she didn’t like it reflected back to her like a mirror.

His ability to make the fabrics look translucent and flowing are incredible

Having 15 children would give one a challenging disposition. 😆

She didn’t like the portrait because it made her look old, she was after all only 45 at the time of the sitting. The reflection of the lilac and grey dress fabric and the grey hair reflected badly on her skin tone imparting an unflattering sallow hue; little wonder she didn’t want to relinquish her bonnet. Queen Charlotte was sensitive about her looks, she didn’t correspond with the accepted standards of beauty at that time - being tall and willowy simply was not in fashion - plus her strong German accent placed her as something different. Such a shame, as I believe her a great beauty as can be seen in other portraits. I understand her dislike for this portrait no matter how technically correct or true to likeness.

Being a 45 y/o mother of FIFTEEN, she was old beyond her years; she was in a bad place emotionally and did not want that recorded for posterity.

This was a fascinating talk with wonderful elocution. Many thanks to Jonathan and National Gallery.

Saw this in person with my husband a few years ago on a trip to London. What struck us was the illusion of a skull in the bodice of her dress. I've never seen anyone else point this out. Are we the only ones who see the skull? Maybe a sneaky message of displeasure of the experience by the artist.😏

I always enjoy knowing the background story to peices of art. I find it fascinating knowing the influences, setting, restrictions & symbolises of each peice of art. Which has been given so succinctly. Thank you

If she'd only had the opportunity to view Goya's portraits of Charles IV and family, she would've relaxed a bit, perhaps even posed for an odalisque!

He was exceptionally talented. That's a beautiful portrait.

Such brilliant explanation of timeless masterpieces is what endears us art lovers to The National Gallery!! Not only they have a stupendous collection of great masterpieces, but also detailed knowledge about the history, artistic quality and values of each of the 2500 artworks!!👏👏👍👍😍😍❤️❤️

A magnificent rendition of this mellow portrait of a queen. Cheers!

the text messages were a nice touch hahaha

45 was old at that time, she looks beautiful for her age and the painting is indeed a master piece.

It's possible that the queen didn't like the portrait in part because it pricks the pareidolia if seen first from a distance rather than close-up. Throughout this video, I could not stop double-taking at the apparent grinning skull suggested from the waist up. If the queen was already dealing with the spectre of her husband's future death, even a subconscious further reminder would have been wholly unwelcome.

The presentation was professional, calm and informative. The text message was amusing and witty. I learned more about the art of portraiture and really enjoyed it. Please keep making more!. Thank you.

From a distance it looks like there's a skull on her bodice. Anybody else see that? I'm not saying it was deliberate or anything, but maybe she noticed it & it creeped her out.

Well presented. The speaker is knowledgeable and has a pleasant demeanor.