Richard Stone (painter)


Richard Stone is a British painter, specialising in portraits. In 1973, at the age of 22, he became the youngest commissioned royal portrait painter in almost 200 years. Stone claims to have secured the commission by cold-calling Clarence House and saying "I could be a latter-day Rembrandt". He has completed commissioned portraits of Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret, Princes Philip, Charles, and Andrew. He also painted the official Downing Street portrait of Margaret Thatcher, who upon inspecting his work, requested that he add her handbag to the portrait. His portraits hang at Buckingham Palace, the National Portrait Gallery, and the National Portrait Gallery.