Herbert Smith Freehills 
Portrait Award 2024

Isabella Watling is a London-based artist who trained at the Charles H. Cecil Studios in Florence. Watling’s portraits are always painted from life, under natural light and to life-scale. Her work has been exhibited by the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and as part of The Portrait Society of America’s International Portrait Prize. Watling’s work was previously selected for the Portrait Award in both 2012 and 2014. She exhibited The Importance of Being Glenn and Gina and Cristiano respectively.

Zizi is a portrait of the artist’s friend, painted while the sitter was finishing a Master’s degree in Textiles. Portrayed wearing a shimmering, pale pink dress, with visible piercings and tattoos, the choice of outfit and the textures of different materials express Zizi’s personality. Between sittings, Watling would place the dress on a mannequin so that she could continue to work on painting the complex folds of the fabric.

Antony Williams trained at Farnham College and Portsmouth University. Williams’ work has been publicly exhibited for over 30 years, including at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, The Smithsonian Institute in Washington, Messums London and Galerie Leandro Navarro in Madrid. Williams work has previously been exhibited in the Portrait Award in 1995, 1998, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2020, and his 2003 portrait of economist, philosopher and social thinker, Amartya Kumar Sen, was commissioned for the National Portrait Gallery’s collection.

Painted in Williams’ preferred medium, egg tempera, his shortlisted portrait depicts Jacqueline, a model with whom Williams has worked with for a number of years. This work combines the artist’s interest in still life with a portrait subject, painted in the artist’s studio. While the still life doesn’t relate to the subject in any specific way, Williams sought to create an interesting dynamic between the table, objects and the sitters to create an implied narrative.

Catherine Chambers is a London-based artist. She has strong ties to Ethiopia, where she used to live, and its inspiration can be found throughout her body of work. She has a degree in Drawing and Applied Arts from the University of the West of England Bristol, and her work has previously been exhibited at the Embassy of Ethiopia, at the Royal Academy of Arts’ Summer Exhibition and as part of the Football Art Prize at the Millennium Gallery in Sheffield. This is the first time her work has been selected for display as part of the Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award.

Lying depicts a friend of the artist, at their home in Lalibela, Ethiopia. The work explores vulnerability, with the sitter lying on a bed, seemingly drifting off to sleep while fully clothed in jeans and a beloved Arsenal football shirt. The artist notes that at the time of painting, to “Fly Emirates”, as emblazoned on the football shirt, could not have been more than a dream for the sitter.