As kingfishers go, it has a lively, almost raffish, quality.
asserted
it → go → quality
The feathers on the top of his head are spiked up like a punk’s, and his blue and yellow feathers look ruffled, as though he has just settled from flight.
asserted
he → spike → flight
He has personality.
asserted
He → have → personality
It is difficult enough to draw a kingfisher that looks even vaguely like its subject, let alone render it accurately and imbue it with character.
asserted
that → draw → character
The picture of the bird appears in the latest issue of Country Life, which has been guest-edited by George’s father, Prince William.
asserted
which → appear → father
Mark Hedges, the magazine’s editor, says that he knew the illustration would “break the internet” as soon as he saw it.
asserted
he → say → it
“I had gone to see William at Windsor Palace, and we had discussed what he wanted to have in the magazine,” Hedges recalls.
asserted
Hedges → go → magazine
“Then in June I was sent this picture George had done in the Spring for inclusion.
asserted
George → send → inclusion
I looked at it, and I knew at that moment that it was going to be a big deal and that the picture would instantly go global.
asserted
picture → look → moment
Not only because it’s incredibly good – and not just good for a 12-year-old – but because we don’t know that much about Prince George.
asserted
we → ’ → George
Thanks to his kingfisher, we know a little more.
asserted
we → know → more
In showing an interest – and aptitude – for art, George, now 13, is following a storied tradition, following in the footsteps of his grandfather, great-grandfather and dozens of other family members over many generations.
asserted
George → show → generations
King Charles is an accomplished watercolourist and has often spoken about the peace he finds in focusing on a piece of artwork.
asserted
he → speak → artwork
“Painting like this is almost meditative in the sense that you enter another world,” he told Royal Paintbox, a 2013 documentary about artists in the royal family.
asserted
he → paint → family
He said he was originally inspired “to look and observe” by his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, who was a keen art collector.
asserted
who → say → grandmother
“We walk away and shuffle off our mortal coil, but these things live on,” Charles added.
asserted
Charles → walk → coil
“That’s what’s so riveting about looking at [work by] other members of my family in the past.
asserted
what → ’ → past
It’s this feeling that there they were, doing the painting, and that stays behind.
asserted
that → ’ → painting
It’s still you.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
It’s part of you, still there.”
asserted
It → ’ → you
Prints, jigsaws, and other items featuring the King’s artwork are today sold through the Highgrove website.
asserted
Prints → feature → website
The monarch’s efforts are estimated to have raised more than £6 million ($11.6 million) to date, and he has donated the proceeds to charity.
asserted
he → estimate → charity
In 2000, he also founded the Royal Drawing School.
asserted
he → found → School
“Charles has been instrumental in the education of young artists,” says the art historian Katy Hessel.
asserted
historian → say → artists
“His school offers the best – and free – postgraduate art education in the country.”
asserted
school → offer → country
The King’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II, also dabbled in art as a girl.
asserted
mother → dabble → girl
In October, a colouring book of hers, including a picture of the Pied Piper from 1934, when she was eight, and signed “Lillibet”, was sold by a gallery in Toronto for $CA9375 ($9616).
asserted
she → colour → CA9375
Although Elizabeth II did not share her eldest son’s private interest in painting, she was an enthusiastic steward of the arts.
asserted
she → share → arts
In 1962, during her reign, the Queen’s Gallery opened at Buckingham Palace as a showcase for the Royal Collection.
asserted
Gallery → open → Collection
It was expanded 40 years later.
asserted
It → expand → ?
Although he also tended to focus on landscapes, he depicted more intimate scenes, too, such as The Queen at Breakfast, a painting of his wife from 1965.
asserted
he → tend → 1965
As well as creating his own works, the duke commissioned other artists.
asserted
duke → create → artists
In 1956-57, he invited artist Edward Seago to accompany him on the royal yacht Britannia on a trip to Antarctica and the South Atlantic; many of the resulting paintings adorn the walls at Balmoral.
asserted
many → invite → Balmoral
Ingrid Seward, the editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine and author of a book about the Prince and Princess of Wales, says art has long provided an escape from the treadmill of royal duties.
asserted
art → say → duties
“It’s something the royals have always done,” she says.
asserted
she → ’ → ?
“It’s something you can get on with, and it is a private thing.
asserted
it → ’ → ?
You can set [an easel] up anywhere you like, and people aren’t going to come buzzing around you.
asserted
people → set → you
“They have always painted and drawn.
asserted
They → paint → ?
The secret is that it is a solitary pastime, and they do not get much time for ‘solitary’.
asserted
they → get → solitary
You can really get into it and block the world out when you are sketching [or painting].”
asserted
you → get → world
…and 29 more, not listed.
The Aporia
