FIRST FEMALE PRESIDENT DAPHNE TODD PAINTS FIRST FEMALE CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER
A newly commissioned portrait of Professor Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer for England, by Daphne was unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery, London, on Monday 27 June 2016.
In making the portrait, Daphne responded to the task of painting in Dame Sally’s office in Whitehall, surrounded by the regular objects of her working day. The painting is made up of four panels, a method Daphne has employed before, and allows the portrait to grow as she paints.
He work can be seen in Room 36 on the ground floor of the National Portrait Gallery. Admission free.
ABOUT DAPHNE TODD
Daphne Todd has the distinction of having been awarded First Prize of the BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery, in 2010, having won Second Prize (when it was called the John Player Award) back in 1983. In the meantime she was elected the first female President of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters ( 1994-2000) and was awarded an OBE for services to the Arts in 2002.
She is perhaps best known for her portraits and currently has five in the permanent collection of the NPG, ( Sir Christopher Ondaatje, Spike Milligan, Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover, Dame Janet Baker, and now of course Dame Sally Davies) and a portrait drawing in the collection of HM the Queen. However, having studied at the Slade School of Fine Art as an undergraduate and postgraduate, she considers herself simply an analytical painter of the seen world. Her landscapes, still lifes and figure studies are exhibited at Messums Gallery in Cork Street, where she has had 4 solo shows since 2002. She is a Trustee of the Heatherley School of Art in Chelsea and an Ambassador for East Sussex, where she lives on a small farm.
Dame Sally Davies by Daphne Todd OBE PPRP NEAC
