Queen's Jubilee portrait unveiled

After six years of delicate negotiations, and then nearly two more spent actually painting the work, Lucian Freud, lauded as Britain's greatest living portrait artist, today formally presented the Queen with this, her latest portrait. The result? An unforgiving, warts-and-all vision of Her Majesty in which she looks distinctly grumpy. Freud travelled to Buckingham Palace from his west London studio with the painting, which will be a star exhibit of the inaugural exhibition at the new Queen's Gallery from 22 May.

Sadly there was no comment from the Palace today on Her Majesty's reaction to the painting. However the director of the National Portrait Gallery, Charles Saumarez Smith, praised her for sitting for this novel addition to the canon of royal portraiture.

Mr Saumarez Smith said: "It was both sensible and adventurous for the Royal Household to commission Lucian Freud to paint the Queen to celebrate the Golden Jubilee, and the result is a thought-provoking and psychologically penetrating contribution to royal iconography."

Certainly, there can be few smaller portraits of the Queen in existence - except on postage stamps and bank notes. In art, however, it's not size that matters - but quality. This 23.5cm by 15.2cm portrait may be dwarfed by the usual triumphal expanses of canvas covered by royal portraitists, but Freud's uncompromising work is renowned for its honesty - and this is no exception.

His broad brush-strokes do anything but flatter Her Majesty, whose face is locked in what appears to be a bad-tempered scowl.

Freud specially requested that the Queen sit wearing the Diamond Diadem she traditionally dons when travelling to the State Opening of Parliament. He is believed to have initially asked that she travel to his studio for more than 70 sittings, however even the famously demanding Freud could not get his way on this subject.

Instead they met in the Royal Collection's Friary Court picture conservation studio in St James's Palace.

The first sitting was in May last year, and Freud was still working on the finishing touches earlier this month.

It took the Queen's former Private Secretary Lord Fellowes, a former subject of Freud's, to persuade him to paint this new work. It was no mean diplomatic feat - in the past Freud has declined to paint Diana, Princess of Wales and the Pope.

However Freud was perhaps swayed by the Queen's prior recognition of his talents. He was made a Companion of Honour in 1983, and then appointed to the Order of Merit in 1993. Sir Hugh Roberts, Director of the Royal Collection, said today: "This remarkable work by Lucian Freud is a wonderful addition to the series of royal portraits in the Royal Collection. It is extremely fitting that it will be displayed in the new Queen's Gallery as part of the celebration of Her Majesty's Golden Jubilee."