National Archives Displays Annie Leibovitz Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II
By Victoria Macchi | National Archives News
A portrait of Queen Elizabeth II will be on display at the National Archives Museum through October 11. NARA photo by Corinne Porter.
WASHINGTON, September 23, 2022 — A portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz is on display at the National Archives Museum through October 11, 2022.
The image, “Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Buckingham Palace, London, 2007,” was made to mark the queen’s official visit to the United States in May 2007. The Royal Household commissioned Leibovitz to celebrate the occasion.
She was the first American to make a portrait of the queen, and produced four images.
The photo that would be deeded to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) features the queen wearing a dark cloak—a nod to a Cecil Beaton image of the queen from 1968.
That portrait was then “digitally superimposed against a photograph of the garden of Buckingham Palace which Leibovitz had taken on the previous day,” according to the Royal Collection Trust.
Leibovitz signed, titled, and dated the portrait before donating the print to NARA, which first exhibited the portrait the month of the queen's visit.
Through special arrangement with Leibovitz, the photo is now being shown for the second time in the West Rotunda Gallery in commemoration of the monarch, who died on September 8 at the age of 96.
“We have many photos of Queen Elizabeth with U.S. Presidents throughout her long reign,” said curator Corinne Porter, “but it’s poignant to have the portrait of her individually in observance of her death earlier this month.”
Due to usage restrictions, the photograph is not available in the National Archives Catalog; however, additional details of how the image became part of NARA holdings are available.