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Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother

5 of 27 portraits by Sir Gerald Kelly

© reserved; collection National Portrait Gallery, London

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Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother

by Sir Gerald Kelly
oil on canvas, circa 1938
38 3/4 in. x 30 3/4 in. (984 mm x 781 mm)
Purchased, 1973
Primary Collection
NPG 4962

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  • Sir Gerald Kelly (1879-1972), Painter and President of the Royal Academy. Artist or producer associated with 27 portraits, Sitter in 11 portraits.

This portraitback to top

This is one of a number of studies Kelly made for the official State Portrait of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, now in the Royal Collection, made following the coronation of her husband George VI. This study shows the Queen wearing the Order of the Garter, and the satin crinoline evening dress designed by Norman Hartnell that she wore for the banquet at the British Embassy in 1938.

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Events of 1938back to top

Current affairs

Britain pursues its policy of appeasement. At the Munich Agreement, Britain, France and Italy agreed to allow Hitler to seize the Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia. The agreement was seen at the time as a triumph for peace, with Neville Chamberlain returning home brandishing the paper agreement and saying 'peace for our time.' Within six months Germany had occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia.

Art and science

Graham Greene publishes Brighton Rock. The novel follows the descent of Pinky, a teenage gang leader in Brighton's criminal underworld. The book examines the criminal mind and explores the themes of morality and sin - recurrent concerns for the Roman Catholic Author.
Glasgow hosts the Empire Exhibition; an £11 million celebration of the British Empire visited by 13 million people.

International

In its pursuit of 'Lebensraum' (living space), Germany annexes Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia with little opposition from the League of Nations. At home, the Nazis continued their escalating persecution of the Jews with 'Kristallnacht' (the Night of Broken Glass), attacking Jewish homes, shops, businesses and synagogues, and taking Jewish men to concentration camps.

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