There are many curious facts about the portraits of the Kings taken by the North American photographer Annie Leibovitz, who today makes public the Bank of Spain and that have aroused a lot of expectation. ABC witnessed yesterday, in its presentation to the press, what they are like and the curiosities that surround this royal commission.
Although they are free portraits, they form a diptych. They have cost 137,000 euroswell below the price of Leibovitz, one of the most famous photographers in the world.
He also made the portrait of the former ambassador of the Bank of Spain, Pablo Hernandez de Cosfor which he charged around 80,000 euros.
The order was made in October 2022 on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the proclamation of Felipe VI.
The contract was signed in September 2023.
Leibovitz chose the location of the portraits: the Gasparini hall of the Royal Palace of Madridbaroque style.
The photo session, which lasted about five hours, took place on February 7 of this year. The Queen arrived before the King.
The photographs of Don Felipe and Doña Sofía are pictorial, printed on polyester canvas and large in size: 223.52 by 170.18 centimeters each one.
A slogan imposed by the photographer: that the Kings dress gala.
The Bank of Spain imposed three conditions: 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.
Annie Leibovitz is the third artist to make a portrait for this institution, after Carmen Laffón and Isabel Quintanilla, and the first to use photography.
Don Felipe wears the Army Captain General uniform. Two other options were considered: tailcoat and morning coat.
Doña Letizia, with her hair down, wears a black pleated silk tulle dress, with a strapless neckline, signed by Balenciaga in the 40s, with a gala cape also made of silk, in fuchsia, by the same designer, from the 60s, both on loan from the Antoni de Montpalau Foundation. They are two historical pieces.
Doña Letizia does not carry no attribute that distinguishes her as Queen consort: neither diadem nor band of the Order of Charles III.
Show off the chaton earrings and necklacewhich were a gift from Alfonso XIII to his fiancée, Victoria Eugenia de Battenberg. On her left hand she wears the Coreterno ring that the King and his daughters gave her years ago.
The portraits are the stars of the exhibition ‘The Tyranny of Cronus’, which can be visited from this Wednesday until March 29 in the exhibition halls of the Bank of Spain. After their exhibition, they will hang in the Governing Council room of the institution.
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