This is what it has all been leading up to
for the last four months of quite intense work so I feel a little bit nervous. I am
not generally that nervous at unveilings, but I do feel a little bit nervous just anticipating
what he might think. >>Malcom Hay, Curator, Parliamentary Art
Collection After about a year and a half of planning
for a portrait of Lord Carrington, this is the moment of truth when Lord Carrington
will see it for the first time. It is a key moment for Andrew Tift. This is an important
commission for the House of Lords Works of Art Committee. The portrait behind me, hidden
under this unveiling cloth, will shortly be joining the permanent collection at the Parliamentary
Art Collection in the House of Lords. Andrew Tift
I am very pleased with the painting myself. I like the composition, the way it has got
a kind of atmosphere to it, which is what I wanted it to have, so I am quite interested
to see what Lord Carrington thinks about it. I think, perhaps more profoundly, it is
maybe the longer run that is most significant because these kind of public commission the
portraits live a very long life, so it will almost be that throughout the centuries it
will have life breathed into it. I think it gives a sense of him in his own environment
and his own history as well.
>>Lord Carrington: I like that. Are you pleased with it? Andrew Tift
Yes. >>Lord Carrington
You are? It is very difficult for people to know about their own portraits. To me that
looks a very good painting, but then you expect that from you, do you not?
>>Lord Carrington How long did it take you to do that?
Andrew Tift Four months.
>>Lord Carrington Four months?
Andrew Tift Four months painting.
>>Lord Carrington Not exclusively?
Andrew Tift Pretty much, yes.
>>Lord Carrington Exclusively? That is a long time, is it not?
There are no steps there. You invented the steps.
Andrew Tift The ones leading up?
>>Lord Carrington What do people say about that who have seen
it? Are they pleased with it? Andrew Tift
Yes.
That is what really matters, what other people say about it, not about the person. You cannot
make a judgment about your own portrait. Andrew Tift: No Absolutely not no
It is something that is going to represent you in the House of Lords for years to come.
>>Lord Carrington It will probably be in the cellar like all
the others. I would not be surprised. Good. I think it is a very nice portrait. Whether
it is like me I have no idea. I imagine it is, otherwise you would not have done it.
Andrew Tift I quite like the depth of the painting, the
way that you kind of travel right the way through the architecture and the composition.
>>Lord Carrington To me that is much nicer than just a head
and shoulders going onto the canvas. Andrew Tift
It brings in all the aspects of your ancestors as well in the ancestral home.
>>Lord Carrington There we are. Very good.
Andrew Tift So how did it feel to be painted in your own
house rather than in the House of Lords? >>Lord Carrington
I do not think I would really mind one way or the other. If it is going to be in the
House of Lords I spent an awful lot of time in the House of Lords in my life having started
it in 1945, which is a very long time ago. This house is my home so I am happy to see
it represented in the painting. Andrew Tift
Did you enjoy the process of sitting for me? >>Lord Carrington
You did most of the work quite a long time after you and I had the first sitting. So
from my point of view, having been painted by other people, you were the least of the
painting problems. Andrew Tift
Do you think this portrait represents you in a way that you would like to be remembered?
>>Lord Carrington Insofar as that question is answerable, yes.