The Jersey Heritage Trust – The States of Jersey royal portrait commission

 

In the summer of 2003, Rob Munday, the UK's only practicing holographic portrait artist, was commissioned to shoot and create the first-ever officially commissioned holographic - stereographic portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and in doing so became the first royal holographer. The resultant portrait, known as Equanimity, was created by Rob Munday with graphic designer, now artist, Chris Levine under a joint creative collaboration and they are co-authors of the work. The portrait was commissioned by The Jersey Heritage Trust - The States of Jersey to commemorate the Island of Jersey's 800-year allegiance to the English throne.

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After receiving the commission, Rob Munday embarked on designing and building a completely new and state-of-the-art 3D camera system, especially to conduct the shoot. Christened the VIP (Video Images with Parallax) system, at this time the fastest and most sophisticated system of its kind in the world, Munday then used it to record the parallax image sequences needed to create his holographic stereogram portrait of Her Majesty the Queen.

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Two sittings took place, the first on the 14th of November 2003 and the second on the  24th of March 2004, during which a total of 38 parallax image sequences, each comprising 205 frames, were recorded for posterity. In total, approximately 8,000 digital photographs were taken of Her Majesty the Queen.

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Soon after the second sitting, Rob Munday selected one of the parallax image sequences and this was further creatively manipulated by him to aesthetically and technically enhance the portrait.

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Rob Munday’s creative holography studio, Spatial Imaging, of Richmond upon Thames, London, then used Munday’s enhanced sequence to print the final commissioned artwork which took the form of a large-format, three-dimensional lenticular stereogram that currently hangs in Mont Orgueil Castle, St. Helier, Jersey. A further lenticular stereogram was gifted to the National Portrait Gallery, London, by the people of Jersey in 2012, to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

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Several other versions of Equanimity and completely new portraits of Her Majesty the Queen have been created by  Rob Munday since 2004.

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In February 2004, after the first sitting, Rob Munday created the first-ever holographic portrait of Her Majesty the Queen and the world’s first holographic portrait miniature at his studio in Richmond upon Thames from first sitting images. He showed the portrait to the Queen at the commencement of the second sitting.

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In 2005, Rob Munday created the second-only holographic portrait miniature, this time using the images he chose for the final commissioned work.

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In 2011, Rob Munday designed and created the world’s first postage stamp to contain a three-dimensional holographic portrait of a head of state for the Jersey Post – The States of Jersey.

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In 2012, to celebrate the Queen’s diamond jubilee, Rob Munday produced and showed the world’s first large-format, digital reflection holographic stereogram portrait of the Queen, entitled The Diamond Queen.

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In 2013, Rob Munday unveiled the world’s first 24-carat gold holographic portrait miniature at the prestigious Royal Miniature Society’s Annual Exhibition to great acclaim. It was described by both Elizabeth Meek, the President of the Royal Miniature Society, and the Rt. Hon. Michael Portillo, the Chairman of the Federation of British Artists, as ‘extraordinary and spellbinding’ and ‘the future of portrait miniatures’.

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In 2022, Rob Munday created two new portraits, 'Felicity - Platinum Queen' to commemorate the Queen's platinum jubilee, which was dedicated to the Queen's closest aide Angel Kelly, and 'In the Blink of an Eye', created as a tribute to Her Majesty the Queen after her death. Both have been received to great acclaim.

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For further information please see:

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Rob Munday - Portraits of Queen Elizabeth II in pictures - May 2024

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A full account of the project to record Her Majesty the Queen's portrait

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Hologram portrait miniatures of Her Majesty the Queen by Rob Munday

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