newton articles index   Recent Portraits Portrait 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Cardinal Clancy, 2005/6 Oil on canvas, 42 x 29 inches (107 x 74cm) When I began to compose this portrait I had in the back of my mind Velásquez' quintessential portrait: Pope Innocent X, and also Sargent's Dr. Pozzi. I believe the red on red theme that appears in both of these works helps in large measure to make them so powerful. In Cardinal Clancy's portrait I painted the background drapes a rather cool red using alizarin crimson as the main ingredient, and by contrast the cardinal's robes are a very warm orangey red, as I principally used cadmium red light. Because of the timeless and traditional nature of a cardinal's robes I felt the stone column (representing the cathedral building) and velvet drapes in the background would best support the mood I wanted to evoke in this picture. I have tried to capture a mixture of fragility and strength in the cardinal's expression. Cardinal Clancy, now in his mid eighties, was formerly the Archbishop of Sydney, and this portrait was commissioned in his honour, to hang in St. Mary's Cathedral House.     Site created by A Stroke of Genius, Inc.