Britain after Blair During his decade as prime minister, Tony Blair resisted the blandishments of portraitists who sought to capture him live on canvas. But last November, five months after leaving office, he agreed to sit for the British painter, Jonathan Yeo.
The picture, commissioned by the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn, reveals a calm, silver-haired Blair, positioned slightly off-centre, with no apparent setting or background. His pale suit melds into the surrounding space, so the prime minister’s face appears to loom in an almost ghostly fashion, and the viewer is drawn immediately into his unflinching pale stare.
