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Cheeky Portrait of Danish Royal Family Wins Bald Archy

By ARTINFO

Published: March 11, 2008
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Photo by Jennifer Palmer, Courtesy Museum of the Riverina
James Brennan's "The Official Portrait of the Danish Royal Family" is the 2008 Bald Archy Prize winner

CANBERRA, Australia—James Brennan's tongue-in-cheek portrait of the Danish royal family has won Australia's annual $5,000 (U.S. $4,600) Bald Archy prize. The painting, The Official Portrait of the Danish Royal Family, portrays the family as a stereotypical Australian family: Australian-born Princess Mary, clad in a red flannel robe and sheepskin boots, breast-feeds her daughter, Isabella, while Prince Frederik, wearing only cotton briefs, socks, and flip-flop sandals, leans on her chair and holds a Carlsberg beer. Their son, Christian, sits on a children's toilet at their feet.

The prize, which was established in 1994, parodies the prestigious Archibald portrait prize. It is allegedly judged by a cockatoo named Maude.

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