Composition : Cupronickel
Mintage : 15,000

Tradition andTranquility: The 2012 State Portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

On a rainy Tuesday morning in London, England, on June 2,1953, 26 year-old Queen Elizabeth II began her horse-drawn Coronationprocession along the Thames River from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey.

In 2013, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II celebrates the sixtieth anniversary of her Coronation?one of the most important moments in the life of the British monarch, connecting her to a thousand years of history. Six decades later, this unique moment also granted a Canadian portrait artist the opportunity to realize one of his greatest dreams.

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The final framed acrylic-on-canvas portrait measures 328 by 224 centimetres. The basswood frame is gilded in23-karat gold leaf. The symbolically rich composition centres on the Queen, elegantly dressed in white, standing at a desk in front of an arched doorway in Ottawa's Rideau Hall. In her right hand, Her Majesty holds a pair of satin gloves. She wears a diamond tiara and the badgesof her Canadian honours, as well as sparkling diamond jewellery. In the background is a portrait-within-a-portrait of Her Majesty's great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, who signed the British North AmericaAct that became the Canadian Constitution in 1982 during Elizabeth II's reign. In the portrait, the British North America Act lays against two ink pots from the Victorian era. The Queen's left hand, which rests on the desk, points to the Act. In addition to the images of Queen Victoria and the British North America Act, Richards was required by the Government of Canada to include a Canadian flag. He added other symbolic elements as well, such as a vase featuring Her Majesty's CanadianDiamond Jubilee emblem, a pink Queen Elizabeth rose, and six lights representing each decade of the Queen's reign. Richards even secretly included two corgis in the carved finial at the top of the chair on HerMajesty's left side - a secret detail that delighted the Queen when she saw the final piece.

Today, the portrait hangs in the ballroom of Rideau Hall, the official residence of the Governor General, in Ottawa.
 

PORTRAIT OF HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II - 2013 CANADIAN COINS is categorised COINS AND PAPER MONEY / 08- ROYAL CANADIAN MINT / DIVERS and sold by l'Imaginaire, a store and specialised website.