Sunday, January 20, 2008

Will this hang in Downing Street?

Back in November I pondered whether Brown was blocking the hanging of Blair's portrait in Downing Street as per the convention of having portraits of previous PMs on the staircase.

At the time an anonymous comment appeared saying "no. it's just not been hung yet". That is to say it had been painted but was simply waiting to be hung. However, as the papers showed yesterday, the first ever portrait that Blair has sat for by Jonathan Yeo has been revealed. Is this the one that will hang in Downing Street?

Note: It's a bloody good portrait.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dizzy, I was under the impression that this one was for Portcullis house, which has a portrait of just about every PM or party leader in it - even IDS. But I could well be wrong.

Wouldn't it be awesome if this one were for No.10, and if it did that 'following eyes' thing? Brown would love that :)

And I agree - a nice painting.

Anonymous said...

Yeo is such a bad artist.

Anonymous said...

A bloody good portrait....only missing the noose to hang it by.

The Wild Man of the Highlands said...

Would much rather see Blair himself hanging in Downing Street.

From one of those sturdy Victorian lamp posts.

Barnacle Bill said...

It would have looked a lot better if he was wearing a bright orange prison suit.
However, it is a bit hypocritical of Tony Wot's Name to have been painted wearing a poppy.

Elby the Beserk said...

Very accurate - why it is as if you can see right through the man. I'd rather HE hang in The Hague, though, than the portrait hang elsewhere.

Anonymous said...

surely he should be hung from a lampost by a length of piano wire in a similar way to his fellow enthusiast for European Union, one Benito Mussolini

Tony said...

The man in the white suit will hang at Lincoln's Inn.

Anonymous said...

The portraits on the stairs in Downing Street are in fact pictures if my memory serves me correctly. In any case this one was not commissioned by HMG.

Alex said...

Good portrait, but Blair is not in the centre. He has perceptibly moved to his right.

haddock said...

it could be that there is a subtle criticism in the use of the poppy that a warmongering bombast like Blair would not notice... I remember hearing that there is a statue of Mountbatten posed with his hands behind his back in a 'royal' manner but in fact one of the hands is posed to suggest he is lifting his shirt. Artists can get away with a lot with people that have such an inflated estimation of their importance and the affection in which they are held

Quiet_Man said...

Oh sorry, I saw the title and assumed that someone had been hung who lives in Downing Street. Bit disappointed that it's just a picture to be hung ;-)

Anonymous said...

' Will this hang in Downing Street?'
Atrocious grammar.
It should be 'Will this be hanged in Downing Street?'.

dizzy said...

Like I give a toss

Anonymous said...

Where he hangs is of no consequence!

The mere fact of being hung is all!

Paul Evans said...

haddock, it was good fortune apparently. Yeo was keen to get some reference to war into the portrait. Blair arrived for his sitting in early November so was wearing a poppy - perfect.

Anonymous said...

no this is for some law society. nothing to do with the government.

Anonymous said...

"Hang"? That's a bit revolutionary!

Anonymous said...

All this talk about our former PM being hung is terrible. Why do we have to stand for such low behaviour? Why are there no calls for him to drawn and quartered too? We should do the job properly; our standards and traditions are slipping.

Anonymous said...

The portraits in Downing Street are photographs -- not paintings!
Tffin

Desperate Dan said...

It was commissioned by a Society of Lawyers of some sort in recognition of their admiration for greedy liars and in thanks for the extra work he's created for them in the fields of human rights, health and safety and inquests.

Anonymous said...

I am displaying an updated version of this portrait, which seems to echo the sentiments of many contributors here

(it would be nice if one of these links works for once...)

Shug Niggurath said...

@disgusted of tw:

Actually, Dizzy was more correct seeing as he used future tense. But in your past tense variant, it would have been better to say "Will this be hung in Downing Street?"

Only a human can "be hanged"!

guido faux said...

'Will this hang in Downing Street?' - intransitive verb; active voice

"Will this be hung in Downing Street?" - transitive verb (with implied object); passive voice

Neither is better.

Grammar Nazis be damned!

Anonymous said...

Bliar and Broon should both be hung!