Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Stone, Richard (1951-present), portrait painter
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Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
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Description area
Dates of existence
1951 - present
History
Richard Stone was a protégé of Sir Gerald Kelly, and the youngest royal portrait painter for two centuries, painting the Queen Mother, and Princess Margaret, also prime ministers Wilson and Callaghan.
He was born in 1951 and was the son of a Colchester postman. At the age of 4 he was involved in an accident that left him with a fractured skull and permanent deafness in his right ear. He began sketching in a notebook and later painted to communicate with his family and teachers. From the age of eight, he was encouraged by his next door neighbour, Frederick Heron. An amateur Essex painter, Heron taught Richard the basics of art.
When he was fourteen, he saw a portrait by Sir Gerald Kelly at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. He wrote to Sir Gerald saying how much he had admired the portrait and asking if he could possibly help and advise him. This was the start of a friendship that lasted until Sir Gerald’s death in 1972.
One of his earliest subjects was Sir Arthur Bliss, the Master of the Queen’s Musick. After accepting a commission to produce a likeness of Lady Adam Gordon, Richard was invited to paint the Queen Mother’s portrait. The finished work was greeted with tremendous critical acclaim.
In 1992 his portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II was unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery and is his most famous work. To commemorate HM becoming Britain’s longest reigning monarch, Richard was commissioned by The Realms to paint Her Majesty’s portrait again in 2015. Upon completion, it was acquired by The Royal Collection and now hangs in St James’s Palace, London.