Episcopal portrait unveiled

The commissioned episcopal portrait of Archbishop Julian Porteous has been completed by the Sydney-based Australian artist Armelle Swan.

The oil painting depicts His Grace in traditional choir dress consisting of purple cassock, purple mozzetta and rochet of linen. Over the mozetta is the pectoral cross, held in place by a cord of interwoven green and gold. He has on his head the purple skullcap or zuchetto without a biretta. He is standing before a plain background and directly gazing upon the viewer.

The portrait is to be hung with the official portraits of the Catholic bishops of Hobart at the Bishop’s House in Barrack Street.

Ms Swan is a figurative painter whose work extends into installations of found objects and small paintings. Originally from a paramedical background, she has completed a Master of Fine Arts and Honours (First Class) at the Sydney College of the Arts. Her previous commissions include a portrait of Sir Laurence Street AC KCMG QC, the fourteenth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

The portrait was unveiled at a small gathering at Barrack Street on April 29.

Ms Swan was unable to attend the unveiling, but in a statement said that she found the task of creating the portrait weighty, aiming to depict the relationship between the person of Archbishop Julian with the mission of his episcopacy.