Chris Levine: How a Private Audience at Buckingham Palace Led to the Most Evocative Image of a Royal by Any Artist to Date
Queen Elizabeth II and a New Language of Portraiture for the 21st-Century Collector
In 2004, the Island of Jersey Heritage Trust commissioned a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II to commemorate 800 years of loyalty to the Crown. The outcome, Equanimity, became one of the most iconic royal portraits of the 21st century. It marked a shift in how we understand monarchy, presence, and the spiritual dimension of portraiture.
The artistic approach
The sittings at Buckingham Palace involved a custom digital camera system mounted on a rail. As the camera glided along a linear track, it captured around 50 subtly varied angles, later combined into a single lenticular image that gives the viewer a three-dimensional, shifting perspective. The Queen, wearing the diamond diadem from her coronation, appears poised and luminous – an emblem of serene sovereignty.
»Good portraits that have a soulful connection with the sitter and resonance with the audience will always be relevant. They connect through and transcend the tech that is sanitising and dividing humanity.«
Chris Levine titled the portrait Equanimity to reflect the Queen’s centered, almost transcendental stillness. After the session, he was granted a private audience during which he and Her Majesty reviewed and selected images for the final piece. The portrait now resides in Mont Orgueil Castle in Jersey and has been featured on the island’s £10 holographic stamp and £100 banknote, affirming its cultural significance.
And yet it was Lightness of Being – a portrait from the same session – that became Chris Levine’s most profound and poetic interpretation. The Queen’s eyes are gently closed, evoking not only rest but reverence. The portrait’s quiet power captivated audiences worldwide.
»I created that portrait not long after I got into meditation, Chris Levine recalls. Though it wasn’t my intention going into the project, Lightness of Being carries a message. I think it touched so many people because it operated in a spiritual dimension. The title came to me in meditation.«
Widely praised, the image was described by Mario Testino as »the most beautiful image ever taken of Queen Elizabeth II.« The National Portrait Gallery called it »the most evocative image of a royal by any artist.« In Lightness of Being, Chris Levine transformed royal portraiture into a kind of spiritual offering.
The Intersection of Meditation, Technology, and Artistic Vision
This inner stillness, which is so central to the portrait, is also fundamental to Chris Levine’s creative philosophy. He draws direct connections between mindfulness and artistic clarity: »Stillness is a portal to the divine- If I can bring someone into that state when experiencing my work, if but for a moment, then that has to be a good thing.«
The artist speaks of the creative process as tuning into a frequency: »Sometimes I feel I’m channeling the work and manifesting it into being. I’m just the messenger. Call me crazy – that’s OK. It doesn’t happen all the time, and the conditions have to be right. It’s like tuning a radio set to get a good clear signal.«
Chris Levine often incorporates light and sound frequencies into his work – energetic elements that interact with the viewer’s nervous system in subtle ways. »Nikola Tesla famously said that to understand the universe, think in terms of frequency and vibration, he notes. If the artwork comprises certain frequencies that harmonize with the circuitry of the body, then the experience can be beneficial, calming, perhaps even healing.«
While his technique is rooted in technology, its purpose is transcendence. His lenticular images, holographic surfaces, and lightboxes are tools to help viewers slow down, reflect, and reconnect. »When someone experiences my art«, he says, »they go through a process of tuning into it. While doing that, they’re slowing down their thinking and entering the space between thought. That’s a meditative state.«
A New Language of Portraiture for the 21st-Century Collector
Collectors have responded with enthusiasm to Chris Levine’s royal series. Special editions such as Lightness of Being (Blue) – an Archival Pigment Print with Swarovski crystals – and Equanimous, enhanced with hand-applied pastel and crystal detailing, have become coveted objects. These works unite technical precision with a rare sense of spiritual gravitas.
For today’s collectors, Chris Levine’s portraits of Queen Elizabeth II are more than visual acquisitions. They are contemplative artefacts – bridging the sacred and the modern, the personal and the historical. Through his fusion of advanced imaging and inner vision, Chris Levine has crafted not only a defining body of work, but a luminous new language of portraiture.
The exhibition Inner Light by Chris Levine is on display at CAMERA WORK Gallery until September 20, 2025.