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Monday, December 08, 2025

PAOTY 2025: Commission Painting of Hannah Fry

This is about "The Winner's Story - Painting Hannah Fry" and the very last episode of Series 12 of Portrait Artist of the Year (2025)

I include this here, because of course this is not painting so much as printmaking. I guess that the good people at Storyvault Films forget that artists and painters are not interchangeable words - and one is a subset of the other.

Either that or they made up this graphic in advance of the series on the basis you might as well get all the titles done at the same time.....

Title frame for the Winner's Story - Episode 11 of Series 12 of PAOTY (2025)

That illustrates how much a PAINTER is expected to be the winner. 

Yet this year Chloe Barnes, who is a mono printmaker, won and hence this winner's story is about the process of moving from winning to getting the commission to create a portrait of Professor Hannah Fry for the Royal Society started, worked on, done and then unveiled - as a MONOPRINT.

The portrait was commissioned by the Royal Society as part of a year-long celebration of the 80th anniversary of the first women elected to its Fellowship, Kathleen Lonsdale FRS and Marjory Stephenson FRS.

The Sitter and the Unveiling

We'll start at the very beginning and then the end - with the Sitter and the Unveiling

Every year the last episode in each series of the "Portrait Artist of the Year" programmes, made by Storyvault Films and broadcast on Sky Arts, is about the £10,000 Commission awarded to the winning artist.

The Commission


Every year, the winner of the Portrait Artist of the Year Award receives a £10,000 commission to 
  • create a portrait of a specific individual - who is typically well known and has contributed in a significant way to public life.
  • for a particular organisation - who would like to have a portrait of that individual. 

The Client


So this year the organisation was The Royal Society 
  • formally founded in 28 November 1660 and  formally known as The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, 
  • It is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. It is also known as
the oldest scientific organisation in continuous existence in the world
In 2025, the Royal Society is celebrating the 80th anniversary of the admission of the first women to the Royal Society Kathleen Lonsdale and Marjory Stephenson in 1945.

The Sitter


The Sitter, Professor Hannah Fry, is the 
Interestingly she is NOT a Fellow of the Royal Society - although I'm assuming that this will probably follow.

In November 2025, she also joined Goalhanger to deliver a brand new podcast The Rest is Science with educator Michael Stevens (Vsauce). This is what's currently all over her Instagram account @frysquared - NOT the portrait!

The Unveiling

First we all wait, 

Left: Royal Society people and programme presenter
Right: Chloe Barnes and Prof. Hannah Fry with her two daughters

Then we all take a jolly good look

Keith Moore, Head of Library at the Royal Society comments on the fact
this is the first print portrait of a living female scientist at the Royal Society
and then, like at all good parties, we get a pic taken with the most important person in the room i.e. the monoprint

Posing for photographs - Hannah Fry and her daughters
with the monoprint by Chloe Barnes


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..and then we get to see the portrait



Portrait of Professor Hannah Fry (2025) by Chloe Barnes
Mixed-media (Monotype, glaze, and pastel) on Arches Huile paper Unique | Hand-signed in pencil Image size: 120 x 90 cm Sheet size: 126 x 94 cm

I'm going to say upfront that I think:
  • Hannah's head is good - except for the fact the parting is on the wrong side. (Should artists doing portraits in monoprint allow for the fact they need to work in reverse. I know a lot of other people who know how to work in reverse so that the printed pic looks OK)
  • I like the articulation in the hands and fingers - it's not perfect but at least they look like hands - even if they are much too long.
  • Chloe has a VERY distinct tendency to make the torso and limbs too big and long relative to the head (as in divide the size of the head into the size of the body and does it come out at about the height of one head = repeats 7 times in the body? I think not) She did the same thing with her portrait of her housemate. I'm left wondering if she has the same eye condition as Stuart Pearson Wright which means he sees faces longer than they actually are. In this instance does Chloe see torso and arms longer than they actually are - or is it just a stylistic device?)
  • I know Hannah is good - but does she deserve the classical heroic proportions that we see in this portrait?
  • she included the necklace with the initials of the names of Hanna's daughters daughters - which will mean a lot to Hannah
The client and the sitter both seemed to love it - and that, at the end of the day - is what really matters!

YOU can view the portrait at the Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace
London SW1Y 5AG between 15-19 December 2025 from 3pm to 5pm GMT. 
  • Visitors can view the portrait outside of these times by appointment by emailing library@royalsociety.org. 
  • Entry to the Royal Society is free but sign in may be required.

Observations on the Portrait Process

“Through multiple sittings, I really enjoyed building a connection with Hannah to develop her portrait. It's been an honour to paint a leading figure in science who is making the industry more accessible and empowering the next generation of young women to enter STEM. With innovation at the forefront of the Royal Society, I am also grateful to showcase my process and be the first female artist to produce a portrait of a living female scientist at the society!” Chloe Barnes
Chloe Barnes with Hannah Fry at the Royal Society

The value of this programme is that we see from beginning to end, more or less how the winner of the Artist of the Year Series tackles the challenge of delivering a portrait of a famous individual for a (generally) national institution - while being filmed all the way through.

Many of us would need to go and lie down just at the thought of that.

The reality is that the winner does not have long to get organised and ready for the filming which has to be executed within a specific time period (between the end of April and 11th August 2025) - and presumably when they are not filming LAOTY.

At this stage we know very little about the artist who has won the series. One of the advantages of the Winner's Story programme is it also gives us time to find out more about the artist, the commissioner and the sitter

The programme covers:
  • Meet the artist and learn more about their life and how they work
  • Meet the client - and find out what they want. In this instance
  • First sitting - the getting to know you time + quick sketch
  • More studies
  • Visit to the studio and looking at how a print is produced
  • Second Proper Sitting
  • Working out the final commission
I must confess I was a bit worried early on. The sketching looked scrappy and suggested (to me at least) observation or recording of incorrect proportions.

The artwork produced in Series 12 of Portrait Artist of the Year
- prior to the commission

More about the artist


We learned she shared a house in Peckham with friends - which was where she created the Commission for the Final by using one of her housemates as a sitter

Interestingly all the house mates got named credits when appearing on screen - unlike artists who never get a listing when the credits roll at the end of the programme - which has always struck me as being very unfair. No artists = no programme.

We also learned that she had done Maths, Biology and Art at A Level - so she's no stranger to Maths.

More about the Client


It was clear when Chloe visited the Royal Society to see where the print would be hung and met Keith Moore, Head of Library and Archives for the Royal Society - and the person who was the primary contact re the commission - that, although many of the previous portraits were all of men in traditional styles (described as "quite severe"), much more of an effort had been made of late to create portraits to reflect a contemporary age.

Here are some of the more recent commissions - and they include prints


I also looked online and most of the Royal Society portraits have been uploaded to Art UK (the link orders them from new to old - but you can change this) where I also found:
The main portrait forms part of a double canvas. The inner work sits over a base canvas of paint and collage in which McRae combines the intellectual content of its subject’s work on the World Wide Web with her own journey to paint Berners-Lee in a flow-chart of preliminary sketches, souvenirs and snatches of conversation. This nimbus from the information age is a playful framing device, nodding to the gilded frames of the Society’s earlier portraits.
It's therefore very clear that the Royal Society is not averse to novel portraits! 
It's always nice to know what the expectations are of your client!

Interestingly it also holds a record of what are called "Admission Day Portraits" - but these are photographs - which includes a rather nice portrait of a certain Brian Cox!!

The big thing for Chloe is that 
this is a the first time the Royal Society has commissioned a female artist to do a portrait of a living female scientist

 

The First Sitting - then more studies


The First Sitting - as is customary - was done at Hannah Fry's house in Blackheath in South East London - which is not far from Peckham. They couldn't have found a better situated artist for this commission!

She emphasised that her charcoal drawing was:
  • not intended to be photo realistic
  • essentially about capturing the emotion of the individual
  • and then finding a balance between the two
I felt at bit nervous at this stage (because you always want the commission artists to do well) and I thought the charcoal drawing didn't capture either a good likeness or realistic proportions. Nevertheless, as is also normal, photographs had been taken to work from as a reference.

There again, if you think about it, 
  • if you were meeting an eminent scientist for the first time 
  • and drawing them 
  • while at the same time being filmed and having to converse for the "film" 
you might not do your best drawing!

This is a development of her intial drawing

A charcoal life study - developed with reference to photographs

We also learned that Chloe has a very clear philosophy for why working as a printmaker is a good idea
"Print allows art to very accessible - for more people to own it" Chloe Barnes 


A visit to the Studio


I liked the fact that Hannah got to see the print studio - where the prints are pulled - as well as us. I think when you're having a portrait done as a print, it's always very interesting to know how the total process works.

Hence we had a very good look at the inside of Thames Studios at Woolwich - and saw a print being pulled after it went through the printing press.

The issue of size becomes very relevant - and Chloe disclosed that she was working on the biggest ever aluminium panel that she's used for the commission portrait!


Woolwich includes a fully equipped print studio

For those thinking they'd like a studio in the Thames Studios at Woolwich please note there is a waiting list!

Second Proper Sitting


The second proper sitting was emotional - with both women ending up in tears. You should watch the programme to find out why.

In art terms, the focus was very much on achieving a better likeness and working bigger.

Working out the Final Commission artwork


The final print needed to be produced quickly from the painted aluminium sheet - before the etching ink dies.

I'm a complete art materials nerd and always want to find out what people use for their art. Which is why I'm now going to discuss her inks and paper.

I noted that she was using Charbonnel Etching Ink by Lefranc & Bourgeois in the programme (as in stop frame and read the tube of paint!)
Our Etching Ink is 100% natural and non toxic. Every colour is highly pigmented, delivering impressive covering power even after dilution.

Like oil paints, Charbonnel inks absorb oxygen to dry. Depending on the colour, the drying time is between 2 and 3 weeks.
and that her website indicates she produces her monoprints using Arches Huile paper which is made on a cylinder mould.
The slow turning of the cylinder enables the fibres to be deposited evenly and spread in all directions over the wire. The paper is homogeneous, with a flatter surface and better wet strength and stability, giving the artist more control. Only papermaking on a cylinder mould can produce paper with deckle edges..
Chloe chose to use shades of red for her print. These were:
I was very pleased to see that Lefranc & Bourgeois confirm that all their reds (particularly those with names previous characterised as very fugitive are made from azo and quinacrodine pigments which are a lot more lightfast
Every red in our Intaglio Etching Ink range is made from azo and quinacridone pigments. The quinacridones are powerful and deep, with an excellent light fast quality. They are very transparent. The azos deliver medium colouring power and are well coloured. The typical drying time for our reds is between 15 – 20 days. This varies depending on the colour.
The nature of the aluminium support is that the ink can be moved around on the surface until the artist is ready to print - due to its drying time. However it seill needs to be wet enough that a good quality print can still be pulled.

The aluminium panel she worked on was the biggest yet! Chloe used an aluminium plein air panel from Artist Surfaces, measuring 90 x 120 cm.

The final final print!


I think Chloe must have got a very good digital image of the original monoprint. How else could you provide 75 limited edition prints for sale.

Chloe's account of the process


Just remembered - there is also an account by Chloe of the whole process in her blog post The Commission, Hannah Fry | Sky Portrait Artist of the Year 2025 on her website.


It's very much better than anything I could ever have written and gives some really educational insight into the process of making a commission at the same time as creating a television programme - all in a heat wave!

I'll leave the last word to Chloe
I wanted to create an artwork that embodied warmth and openness, reflecting how Hannah engaged the world in science, and also how she was with me. It would be of a woman with great scientific achievement, and within an industry where there were barriers to our gender, it felt important to me that this portrait held presence and embodied feminine strength.

 

Previous PAOTY Commission blog posts

on

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