Mary Donnelly, Ode Online Magazine, June 1, 2012
At the beginning of the year, a portrait of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark surrounded by her successors over two generations , her son Crown Prince Frederik and her grandson Prince Christian, caused a sensation when it was unveiled in the galleries of the National History Museum at Frederiksborg Castle, on the occasion of the monarch’s ruby jubilee.
On Thursday, May 31, 2012, while the Queen was receiving US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen, it was Princess Mary ‘s turn to have her portrait painted and to add to the collection of portraits housed in the palace, located in Hillerød. A few weeks after discovering her portrait by Brazilian artist Romero Britto , who had already captured Princess Charlene in his vibrant, colorful style , Princess Mary unveiled her own reproduction by painter and artist Gugger Petter. Born in Denmark, Gugger Petter, after studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, developed her creativity in Mexico using fabric, then moved towards using newspaper and 3D techniques after settling in California in the late 1980s. And it is precisely this facet of her art that captivates when one looks closely at the portrait of the Crown Princess’s wife: her giant effigy is the result of a multitude of collages! A complexly beautiful complexion…
Dazzling the day before in an ultra-colourful psychedelic dress at a charity dinner attended by the royal family in honour of WWF Denmark’s 40th anniversary, Princess Mary unveiled this creation and seemed delighted with the result, but did not let herself be upstaged, once again radiant, in a red dress (a colour she rarely dares to wear), this time.