The Obama official portraits were unveiled last week. Little did I realize I would be looking at dozens of portraits of the Queen over the next few days. This will be unrelenting for more than a week.
What Barak Obama said during the unveiling of his portrait was that he liked that McCurdy “paints people the way they are, for better or worse.”
“He captures every wrinkle on your face, every crease in your shirt. You’ll note that he refused to hide any of my gray hairs, refused my request to make my ears smaller. He also talked me out of wearing a tan suit, by the way,” Obama quipped. “His work is so precise that at first glance it looks like a photograph.”
The official portrait of Trump is full of action and intrigue. Trump’s political action committee donated $650,000 to the Smithsonian Institution in July to help underwrite the portraits of the Trumps.
On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to say whether Biden would extend an invitation to Trump should his portrait be completed during the Biden administration.
Let us hope this does not occur. It seems to me that there's all manner of scenarios possible. He could even declare himself king once he sees the portrait. There is the likelihood of ill-will being present: "While there’s no hard-and-fast rule for when a White House portrait ought to be unveiled, ceremonies have often been hosted by a former president’s immediate successor. And when in office, President Donald Trump never held a ceremony for the Obama portraits."
What a contrast. The U.S. horizons are clouded by Donald Trump's psychotic behaviours in the security realm. Britain and the Commonwealth (that's us) are engaged in the ritual of the "monarch's ascension to the throne". What a lot is packed into the declaration of the king by the "lords spiritual and temporal of this realm." A Shakespearean play is upon us:
"By the grace of god of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of his other realms and territory, King, head of the commonwealth, defender of the faith, to whom we do acknowledge all faith and obedience with humble affection, beseeching God by whom kings and queens do reign to bless his majesty with long and happy years to reign over us."
God Save the King is next played.
Glorious autumn is here soon - you can see it through the entrance way. This is the University of Toronto - where the stone walls and buildings are so grand and connect us to the beautiful architecture of Great Britain.
No comments:
Post a Comment