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Many of the subjects of his portraits are long dead: Disraeli, Churchill, Bismarck {identified by the familiar palin- drome Otto} and the antithesis of Bismarck’s “iron fist in the velvet glove,” Mahatma Gandhi. It will come as no surprise to learn that Simon Raab’s father was a history buff. Indeed, because of their world-altering stature, many of Raab’s models bridge the gap between portraiture and history painting. Quite a few of the luminaries have names that turn into familiar adjectives when followed by the surname “ian,” as in Darwinian, and Newtonian. It’s tempting to add “Elizabethan” to this august list, except for the fact that the Queen in question is Elizabeth II, whom Raab represents in three different modes. Coronation portrays Elizabeth the Second when she first became queen: a pretty young woman with generous lips, painted in a palette that looks like fruit compote swirled in pasticcio ice cream. The image marks the beginning of Elizabeth’s remarkably long reign; since she’s been on the job, she’s shaken hands with no less than a dozen different American Presidents. The second of the three parleaux, Royal Skullduggery, sug- gests that this too must end. Imagine Her Majesty as she might have been rendered by James Ensor: a golden skull, topped by a snood-like tiara, who wears bright red lipstick smeared across her grin. The most disconcerting of Raab’s three regal portraits occupies a spot somewhere between the nubile and the dead. Set against a royal blue backdrop that sparkles like sapphires, The Sun does set takes maximum advantage of parleau’s mutability. The picture’s now-you-see-it now-you- don’t effect has something in common with anamorphosis. From some van- tage points, the work reveals the head and shoulders of the aged Queen, painted on crushed steel pleats that look quite like pale, pressed flowers. Shift your viewpoint ever so slightly, and you suddenly see the skull beneath her skin. This skeletal visage flickers back and forth, quick as wink; think of the subliminal image of Norman Bates’ mother at the con- clusion of Sir Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, fresh—or not so fresh—from the fruit cellar. Raab goes to great pains to distinguish between Elizabeth herself, the virtuous woman who spent most of her life as a symbol, and the idea of monarchy that she represents. In his own words: “We don’t get to vote in many of the most important decisions of our lives; they are handed to us by larger imperatives, such as parents and/or political structures. Queen Elizabeth shares this powerlessness with us. I respect her as a woman and mother, and I respect her devout dedication to the role she was handed in 1952, the year I was born. She was a beauti- ful new Queen. “I find constitutional monarchy very cynical. Imagine an infrastructure of pomp and riches in a free society supported simply to assuage the need for commoners to feel the glory of the Empire. …Absolute and constitutional monarchies have presided over democracies as well as fascist military dictatorships. But without exception, monarchs have presided over every colonial empire. “The three parleaux of the Queen are about this view. The young Queen, Coronation, is beautiful, devoted to her calling, gracious and dignified. The decaying queen, The Sun does set, is about monarchy and the end of the empire upon which the sun does now set. The gold-skull-queen, Royal Skullduggery, is about the truth—the truth behind empires and monarchies as they were first created, to plunder in the name of country and King.” Seen as a group, many of Raab’s portraits offer an impudent salute—the single-digit salute represented in Up the Right and Up the Left—to the 31