These are the portraits of the Kings by Annie Leibovitz: Don Felipe, as Captain General, and Doña Letizia, by Balenciaga

This is how the North American photographer Annie Leibovitz has portrayed the Kings after a commission from the Bank of Spain in October 2022 on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the proclamation of Felipe VI. She is the third woman to create a portrait for this institution, after Carmen Laffon and Isabel Quintanilla, and the first to use photography. There was three slogans in the commission: that the pictorial portrait be replaced by the photographic one, that it be done by an artist and that she be foreign, in order to internationalize the collection of the Bank of Spain.

The signing of the contract took place in September 2023. The images were taken by Leibovitz last February 7 at the Gasparini Hallone of the most emblematic and ornate spaces in the Royal Palace of Madrid. The session, which was calm but intense, lasted about five hours: between noon and five in the afternoon. The Queen arrived before the King, The artist had absolute freedom when doing the work. Before traveling to Madrid with a team of four assistants, he sent a trusted person to scout locations. Several rooms were considered in the Royal Palace, as well as inside the Bank of Spain building. Finally, the rococo atmosphere that floods the Gasparini Hall of the Royal Palace convinced the photographer, even though the final work is far from the close image that the Royal Family wants to convey. But here, as the Bank of Spain affirms, creativity and the last word have been with Leibovitz all the time.

The portraits of the Kings, very pictorial and that they form a diptychare the stars of the exhibition ‘The Tyranny of Cronus’, which was inaugurated this noon and can be visited from this Wednesday until March 29. These are photographs printed with UV drying inks on primed polyester canvas (223.52 by 170.18 centimeters each), in a single editionwhich become part of the splendid artistic collection of the Bank of Spain. After their exhibition, they will hang in the Governing Council room of the institution. Its price: 137,000 euros. They add to the impressive official portrait gallery from the Bank of Spain, signed by artists such as Goya, Vicente López, Zuloaga, Sorolla… The image rights will be shared by the photographer and the institution.

The artist personally met the Kings in 2013when she was recognized with the Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities and since then they have remained in contact. That year, in Oviedo, Leibovitz expressed his desire to photograph Don Felipe and Doña Letizia. Wish come true. The artist placed the King inside the room – in darkness, without looking directly at the camera, with his right hand resting on the table – and Doña Letizia next to the window, receiving natural light, and staring at the lens.

The photographer also had freedom when choosing clothing and accessories what the Kings look like. Just two slogans. Leibovitz wanted them to dress up. And the Bank of Spain, that Doña Letizia used a model that she had not worn before in official portraits. In addition to the Captain General uniform, two other options were considered for the King, such as morning coat and tails. They were discarded. Don Felipe is surrounded by all the elements of the classic portrait: the mirror, the table, a chandelier, the clock… In the case of the Queen, although she did not change her Balenciaga dress and cape, she did pose with a tiara and the band of the Order of Carlos III, but finally Leibovitz chose to portray Doña Letizia without the most characteristic distinctions that she wears at gala events due to her status as Queen consort.

What Doña Letizia did maintain throughout the entire photo session – whether with a headband and band, or without them – were the chaton earrings and necklacea gift from Alfonso XIII to his fiancée, Victoria Eugenia de Battenberg. In his left hand he also shows the solid yellow gold ring 18 carats from the Italian goldsmith Coreternoa gift that the King and his daughters gave him years ago. This choice of jewelry also shows the past and present of the royal jeweler.

According to Yolanda Romerocurator of the Collection of the Bank of Spain, Annie Leibovitz has been able to collect, renewing it, the tradition of the Spanish institutional portrait. There are allusions to Velázquez portrait painter of Corte already works like ‘Las Meninas’: the light entering through a balcony from the right side of the composition, the door in the back open behind the Monarch… It is expected that the Kings will visit the exhibition and admire their portraits later. Annie Leibovitz may also attend.

Likewise, the exhibition includes the portrait that Leibovitz made of the former governor of the Bank of Spain, Pablo Hernandez de Cosin this case with a more relaxed and informal posesitting on the table in the institution’s Governing Council room, a gesture that breaks down the rigidity inherent to images of power. With measurements of 137.16 by 111.76 centimeters, it cost about 80,000 euros.

All personalities from music, fashion, cinema, television, writers, politicians, artists have passed through Annie Leibovitz’s lens… It is the photographer of the stars (she herself is as much or more so than her models). He brought football stars to Madrid Pelé, Maradona and Zidane and he portrayed them hanging out in Malasaña and playing table football. Among his last photographs for Vuitton, Roger Federer and Rafa Nadalin the mountains, with backpacks on their shoulders with the brand’s iconic monogram. He also recreated the main characters of disney with some of the most famous actors in the world. Perhaps Annie Leibovitz, with these new portraits – which also coincide with the 20th anniversary of the wedding of Don Felipe and Doña Letizia – has been inspired by an updated and modern version of ‘Cinderella’ to remember how the Kings met.