Photos
Quotes
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Queen Elizabeth II : We stand here tonight, surrounded by some of the Royal Collection's greatest treasures, to admire the genius of Rubens, Titian, Rembrandt, and Holbein, but that we are able to make sense of it all, appreciate it, understand it... speaks to the genius of another man, whose exceptional scholarship and vision have brought us together today. Sir Anthony Blunt. Thank you. It is he who has curated this exhibition, and given meaning to mystery, and revealed what really does lie beneath the surface. I, for one, had never thought of art history in that way, as the art of investigation, solving riddles, finding clues, unlocking secrets. It's been quite an education. I particularly enjoyed the portrait which turned out to have another person lurking beneath the surface. Have I described that correctly, Sir Anthony? Or am I stumbling around in the dark, as usual?
Anthony Blunt : Not another person, ma'am. The same person. It was not uncommon in the early modern period for an artist to finish a portrait, and the patron would take a look and ask for a more flattering version of themselves. And the artist would paint another version over it.
Queen Elizabeth II : So, not two different people?
Anthony Blunt : Two different versions of the same person.
Queen Elizabeth II : Which might as well be two different people. The idealized version of themselves they want to be seen, and the less desirable person they really are, hidden away. There's even a word for it: "palimpsest."
Anthony Blunt : That generally applies to manuscripts, ma'am. "Pentimento" for paintings.
Queen Elizabeth II : Pentimento. Well, I think I speak for everyone here when I say none of us will be able to trust or look at anything in the same way ever again.
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Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh : I never saw Stephen Ward in any capacity other than as an osteopath. If he made drawings of me, he would have done so from photographs.
Anthony Blunt : We all tell ourselves all sorts of things to make sense of the past. So much so that our fabrications, if we tell them to ourselves often enough, become the truth. In our minds and everyone else's. And believe you me, I'm happy for your truth to be the truth. It would be better for everyone. Imagine how awful it would be, for example, if those pictures saw the light of day now. The storm it would create. And for what? It's the past.
