I was commissioned around 2005/6 to paint a portrait of cricketer Sir Viv Richards for the MCC's art collection at Lords where they have portraits of the world greatest ever cricketers .Sir Vivian was not an easy man to pin down to photograph for my painting and I eventually caught up with him in Antigua where he lives around 2006 and photographed him there.Then consequently painted the portrait back in my studio in London.
He was in the Uk this week for the West Indies vs England Test match at Lords.I got sent this photo of him with my painting , apparently he had never seen the final work.A representative at the MCC at Lords said ' Sir Viv came to Lord’s for the Test and I brought him round to see his portrait in the Museum. He was a bit taken aback by the sheer size of it but did very much like it. "
The painting is about 6 or 7 feet square in size and had previously be displayed at the top of the main stairs in the Clubhouse at Lord's and had been one of the last things that the England team would have looked at before they went on the pitch.I had painted the portrait with this in mind as I thought that seeing a really powerful painting of Sir Vivian just before they went on the pitch might psych them up (in a good way) .The England players actually asked for it to be moved to the Lords Museum as they apparently found it a bit intimidating to look at just before a match.
The painting is permanently on view in the Lords museum in London.