Today sees a new portrait of Dame Judy Dench unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery. The artist Alessandro Raho usually drapes his subjects in theatrical clothes but with Dame Judy he has opted for a simple white jacket against a stark white background.
Inspiration came, unusually enough, while he was spying on the actress: "I attempted to trap something I saw in her while she waited in the main hall of the National Portrait Gallery, unaware of me," he said.
Some may consider this kind of thing akin to candid photos of that
girl from Hollyoaks caught scratching her arse while on the beach in
the latest issue of NUTS, but we find the idea of artists capturing
the real person trapped inside the actor by the use of stalking a
wonderful development.
Hoping that this sets a new trend, we are looking forward to more board treaders being caught unaware on canvas in the following months.
Sir Ian McKellen captured ordering a cheese sarnie from a Soho
sandwich shop perhaps, or Vanessa Redgrave being hassled by one of those clipboard people on Tottenham Court Road. Or simply Kevin Spacey out 'walking his dog' in the park.
