Robert Clinch Sir William Dargie

William Dargie won the Archibald Prize eight times from 1941. He had a talent for creating excellent likenesses and was commissioned to paint Queen Elizabeth II and several other members of the royal family. His portraits, however, were generally considered to be “tame” pieces of art, so much so that his seventh Archibald win – a portrait of Essington Lewis in 1952 – caused art student riots and triggered the first exhibition of rejected Archibald entries.

Unaware of any portraits of Dargie himself, Robert Clinch felt it important that an artist of his repute be painted, particularly since Dargie is now 85. “There has been so much talk about him,” says Clinch. “Having met him several times, I found him different to the person he is often thought to be. I found him to be a very complex, vital, generous human being who is much less narrow in his views than he is portrayed, although he does have strong opinions.”

“His own painting style is only part of what he likes”, adds Clinch, citing the fact that Dargie taught artists as different as Fred Williams, Clifton Pugh and Sam Fulbrook as students.

Clinch has only recently begun working in egg tempera on traditionally sized and gessoed timber panels. “You can’t apply the tempera in broad strokes, hence the linear pointillist look”, he says. “The layer upon feathered layer of colour is what creates the amazing luminescence, but it takes a long time.”

Born in Cooma in 1957, Clinch is a self-taught artist working largely in the realist style. He has won the Wynne Prize twice, in 1989 and 1993.

This work is now in the collection of the National Library of Australia, Canberra.