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Sir Michael Eliot Howard

2 of 2 portraits by Andrew Festing

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Sir Michael Eliot Howard

by Andrew Festing
oil on canvas, 2005
42 in. x 34 in. (1066 mm x 865 mm)
Commissioned, 2005
Primary Collection
NPG 6744

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  • Sir Michael Eliot Howard (1922-2019), Military historian and lecturer; Coldstream Guards officer. Sitter in 2 portraits.

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The portrait, painted from life in Festing's studio took five days to complete. Sir Michael has described the occasion as a 'landmark in my life'. For the purposes of the painting Sir Michael brought to the studio three paintings that could be integrated into the portrait. Sir Michael says 'My own first choice was a print of Somerset House, to emphasise my connection with King's College; my second, a portrait of a young Coldstream officer c.1840, to indicate my military connection. Andrew preferred the lemon, a print that I inherited from my mother, on the grounds that the other two were too fussy.' During the sitting Sir Michael wore the cross of the Order of Merit, recently bestowed on him. The two men both share military backgrounds and a common interest in history, which was aptly symbolised by the book Sir Michael is reading. Published just after the First World War it contains the work of Eric Kennington and his figure studies and portraits of infantrymen created during his commission as an official war artist.

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Current affairs

London suffers its worst bomb attack since the Second World War when four devices are detonated during rush hour on public transport. Three of the bombs went off on tube trains, and one on a bus killing 56 people and injuring 700. A Leeds-based terror cell of British born or raised Islamic extremists committed the attacks.
John Sentamu becomes the first black Archbishop of the Church of England.

Art and science

As part of the international Make Poverty History campaign, ten Live 8 concerts are held simultaneously around the world to coincide with the meeting of the G8 and persuade the world's richest countries to 'drop the debt' owed by the world's poorest countries, increase aid to the world's poorest people and negotiate fairer international trade rules.

International

1,836 die in America as a result of Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding. The hurricane was the most costly in US history and one of the most deadly. It caused the levees of Lake Pontchartrain to break, which flooded 80% of New Orleans. About one million people evacuated the city while 25,000 stayed behind, many taking refuge in the city's Superdome.

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