Double taste of royal artworks

The artist who created a hologram of the Queen is showing new works based on thousands of images from the sittings.

Chris Levine's work was made three years ago for the Jersey Heritage Trust to mark 800 years of the island's allegiance to the Crown.

Now he has produced a series of portraits of the Queen - some holograms and others using Laserpod, a system he patented in which lasers are shot through crystals.

Levine, 47, from Oxfordshire, said: "As a modern image-maker, I was asked to make a modern image of the Queen.

"I had two sittings with Her Majesty and two private audiences to show her the work in progress, and ended up with several thousand images.

"I found myself sitting on so much material. There were images of her in her quietest moments, of the back of the Queen's head... there's a level of intimacy that I think this medium facilitates. It does make for quite an unusual exhibition."

He added: "She has a good heart and I am grateful for the trust and support she gave me in producing the work."

Meanwhile, the Queen's own art collection has been scoured by Sir David Attenborough for another new exhibition.

The broadcaster has helped choose dozens of natural history drawings and paintings from thousands in the Royal Library for display in the Queen's Gallery, next to Buckingham Palace.

They include many of Leonardo da Vinci's drawings relating to his anatomical investigations of animals through dissection, and some of his plant studies, including the earliest known example in Italy of a type of grass known as Job's tears.