CECIL BEATON: The Royal Portraits

A big glamorous V&A publication with 223 quality portraits in both black and white, sepia and colour and including previously unpublished images. Cecil Beaton was a huge admirer of Queen Elizabeth II and was very helpful in establishing the Queen Mother's image in 1939. Princess Margaret developed a professional and personal relationship with Beaton, Princess Marina clearly adored him while Princess Alexandra said: 'It was always such fun being photographed by Cecil.' There was tension between Beaton and Prince Philip who, while keen to pick up tips from the photographer, found his manner too flamboyant. On the other hand, Beaton detected a strong aesthetic streak in the young Prince Charles (now King Charles III) and greatly admired him, and succeeded in capturing on film the close relationship between Prince Charles and the Queen Mother. Beaton photographed the British monarchy for more than 50 years between 1927 and 1979. One of the first examples is a silver gelatin print of the Duke of Windsor 1960 and on the right a heavily retouched version of the same photograph. Here are royal wedding photographs, Wallis Simpson and the Duke of Windsor sitting inside glamorous Windsor castle, Princess Elizabeth photographed for LIFE magazine, the beautiful Princess Margaret at Buckingham Palace in 1949 in white ballgown, Princess Alexandra in 1974 in fashionable clothing, the Duchess of Kent on her wedding day 1961, Lord Snowdon in his studio at Kensington Palace July 1965 and the iconic photograph of Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace October 1968 in her black cape with gold chain and buttons. Arranged chronologically from the 1930s to the 1970s, each of the book's four chapters comprise of an introductory essay, plates with extended captions, and one or two in-depth analyses of a particular sitting. Throughout there are contact sheets, test shots, outtakes, sketches, letters, journals and tear-sheets. Build up a detailed picture of Beaton's working methods, the relationships he developed with his sitters, and how the eventual portraits were received. Drawn from the V&A's unparalleled archive and published with Thames & Hudson. 240 large quality pages, 25.4 x 30cm.