Duchess Kate portrait gets mixed response from critics

Art critics have given the Duchess of Cambridge's first official portrait a mixed reception, Sky News reported.


Kate has been painted with a faint smile and looking out at the viewer from a large canvas created by award-winning artist Paul Emsley.


The portrait, in keeping with the Duchess' wishes, does not portray her official side but the woman known to her family and friends.


Her response to the work after seeing it privately with her husband the Duke of Cambridge was to say: "It's just amazing, I thought it was brilliant." The Duke described it as "absolutely beautiful".


But Emsley's approach to the high-profile royal commission has divided commentators.



Richard Stone, Britain's most prolific royal portrait artist, said the work had captured Kate's evident warmth and approachability.


He said: "I liked it, very much so. So often with official portraits they can be rather stiff and starchy, but this has a lovely informality about it, and a warmth to it."