Trinidad-born artist Sarah Knights has been commissioned to do a potrait of King Charles III.
Discovered via social media by Tatler, a British fashion and lifestyle magazine, she was asked to do the portrait for its July cover.
- Advertisement -
With no time for much of the attention she has garnered over time, Knights was only too excited to jump at the opportunity when asked to produce the commission. She said the opportunity was ‘very special’ but added it had been difficult to complete the portrait.
She said she used the opportunity to encourage other local artists to let their passion drive them to great opportunities in life.
The portrait is set to go up for auction at Sotheby’s this summer.
Knights was born in Sangre Grande, Trinidad and discovered at a young age that she had a love for drawing and art. She recalls honing her skills drawing Bart Simpson and Fido Dido as a child.
She admitted to the Daily Mail that she had little knowledge of King Charles and watched his coronation on May 6. She also drew inspiration for the piece from the work of Sir George Hayter when he depicted Queen Victoria after her coronation in 1838.
She did two portraits, one where the King was facing West, but decided to use the one facing East to ‘capture the King looking hopeful’.
As Tatler Magazine writes “The Trinidadian artist has portrayed the king facing east, towards ‘the rising of the sun, the beginning of a new day, a new dawn.”
Knights draws inspiration for her works from Francis Bacon, Claude Monet and others.
In 2012, she was offered a solo exhibition by Martin D Mouttet, director and owner of Trinidad’s leading gallery, Medulla Art Gallery in Port of Spain. In 2017, she was ready to showcase One Thousand Mes, was a collection of self-portraits.
Although the show was a sold out, she did not become a full-time artist.
Knights is a full-time art teacher in Trinidad, with pupils aged from 12 to 19. She studied art for four years at John Donaldson Technical Institute and three more at The UWI, where she majored in painting and met her future husband, Stefano Caines, also an art graduate specializing in design and animation.
