In celebration of Her Majesty the Queen’s 85th birthday on 21 April 2011, Look and Learn held an international children’s competition to paint her portrait.

We recently announced the winners.

You can also see all 15,000 entries which are today being sent to The Queen on a digital photo frame (see press notice).

The competition was kindly sponsored by Bridgeman Education.

In celebration of Her Majesty the Queen’s forthcoming 85th birthday, Look and Learn recently held an international children’s competition to paint her portrait.

For further information, please visit the Look and Learn children’s art gallery where you can see the almost 15,000 entries that we received.

The results of the competition will be published on Friday 15 April 2011.

The competition was kindly sponsored by Bridgeman Education.

In celebration of Her Majesty the Queen’s forthcoming 85th birthday, Look and Learn recently held an international children’s competition to paint her portrait.

For further information about the competition you will need to visit the Look and Learn children’s art gallery where you can also see the almost 15,000 entries that we received.

To celebrate the launch of our £2 image educational licensing initiative, we are running a competition to identity the artist of the painting below. The prize for the first person to identify the artist is £100. The closing date is 31 December 2010. In the event that no one is able to provide a credible identification with supporting evidence, the prize will go to the person who has most advanced the state of knowledge regarding the painting. In awarding the prize, the decision of Look and Learn will be final.

The subject of the painting is Venus and Cupid – on that most experts agree. The problem is: who is the artist? The National Gallery told us they thought it was possibly associated with paintings by Lely at the court of king Charles II and referred us to the National Portrait Gallery. The National Portrait Gallery told us that the painting was certainly not by Lely and unlikely to have been painted in England and, suggesting that the painting was likely to be from the Low Countries, referred us to the RKD (the Netherlands Institute for Art History). The experts at the RKD did not think the painting was done in the Low Countries and, instead, suggested that it might be from France. The experts on French painting whom we have consulted have told us that it was unlikely to be French. One suggested it could be Italian.  Most of those who have seen the painting think it is mid 17th century. However, the V&A has pointed out that the use of black silk in earrings was an early rather than mid 17th century fashion.

Other more certain facts about the painting are as follows:

• Dimensions: 29.75 inches by 33.5 inches, excluding frame.
• Apparent indistinct residue of a signature in monogram form in the bottom right hand corner of the painting.
• The number “97″ is painted in large white numerals on the back of the canvas towards the bottom. No stickers or chalk marks. The canvas has been re-lined but not recently.
• When the painting was recently restored, some re-touching was done, mainly to the lady’s chest.
• The furniture dealer on the South Coast from whom we bought the painting told us nothing of the painting’s provenance other than that it had come from an “ordinary home”.

A number of experts have commented how odd it is that a painting of such obvious quality should so stubbornly resist attribution.

But perhaps a more expert expert is reading this and will be able to claim his/her £100.

Graffiti in Pompeii

The theme of May’s children’s art contest is “Graffiti”.  The closing date for entries is 7 June 2010.

Graffiti hardly features in the Look and Learn picture library.  Here, however, is a an illustration of a Street Scene in Pompeii which shows some ancient graffiti.  We are sure modern children will be able to do much better.

To see entries to the competition so far, click here.

The theme of April’s kids art competition is “Mobile phone of the future”. The closing date for entries is 7 May 2010.

The theme of March’s kids art competition is “Fashion design”. The closing date for entries is 7 April 2010.

The theme of February’s kids art competition is “Me asleep”. The closing date for entries is 7 March 2010.

The theme of January’s kids art competition is “World of one colour”. The closing date for entries is 8 February 2010.

Here, by way of inspiration, is a picture by Angus McBride of the famous Blue Grotto in Capri.

The theme of December’s kids art competition is “Meeting an alien”. The closing date for entries is 7 January 2010.

Because of some computer problems during the month, we have decided to extend the closing dates of the two Novemeber competitions – “My ambition” and “Farming” (sponsored by Father Tim Stories) – until 18 December.