The Little Prince

This is a small 8 x 6" portrait of the artist (at the age of about 6) painted in oils on linen canvas for my dad's 70th birthday.


My family always celebrated Three Kings Day on 6th January (Epiphany) when I was a child. In Switzerland, if not elsewhere on the continent, it's celebrated by having a special currant bun cake for breakfast. Inside one of the buns a small plastic figure of a queen is hidden, and if you find it, then you are crowned king for the day.

As a boy I found this all very exciting, and I wound myself up with great expectations. If I lost to one of my brothers - as usually happened - I was completely crestfallen.

One year, when I was about 6 years old, I was so upset when I lost that my dad went out of his way to make me my own crown, which I honestly thought was much better than the one that had come with the cake. This painting is of the moment just after my own special coronation.

I painted this canvas not as an exercise in conceit, but because it symbolises everything that my dad has done on behalf of his family over the years, and it was my way of saying thank you.

Asking Price: Not for Sale