British Royal Family Portrait Artist Commissioned By a Houston Psychiatrist For a One of a Kind Painting
Ralph Heimans Reveals More On Portrait Painting, Those Royals and His Bayou City Experiences
BY Shelby Hodge // 05.03.24
Dr. Ayesha Rishad, Lady Penny Mountbatten, Joanne King Herring at the portrait unveiling at Gittings (Photo by Priscilla Dickson)
It’s not unusual for famed photography house Gittings to host portrait unveilings in its tasteful salon on West Alabama. But on this night the reveal was something different — a portrait of a local Houston psychiatrist done by a world famous artist know for his paintings of the British Royal Family. Think King Charles, Queen Elizabeth and Houston’s Dr. Ayesha Rashid.
A licensed and board certified adult, child and adolescent psychiatrist and clinical assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine, Rishad had met London-based artist Ralph Heimans and his representative Lady Penny Mountbatten at a Fabergé event in Houston in the fall of 2022.
A certain creative magic transpired between the artist and doctor, who was already familiar with the portraitist’s work. Ultimately, Rashid hired the international talent to paint her portrait. She did the sitting in February 2023. Until this evening, hosted by Gitting’s Andrew Cordes and Rashid, the portrait had not been seen. There was excitement in the salon as guests sipped champagne and nibbled on serious hors d’oeuvres from Alexander Wyatt of Leona’s Bakeshop.
A few minutes before Mountbatten’s presentation on the artist and unveiling of the portrait, we spoke with Heimans.
PaperCity: How do you handle the pressure of working with members of the British Royal family?
Ralph Heimans: I take people as they come. I grew up Australia where there is no sense of of hierarchy of the Old World. I meet each person on their own level. And, of course, it’s all about empathy. So therefore it makes sense that you meet them at the personal level.
Elizabeth Anthony
PC: What is it that sets your portraits apart from others in the field?
RH: Every painting is based on narrative. So I discuss with my client what story they wish to tell. So that brings down barriers and that helps. My work is far more story telling than ordinary portrait painting. I work in a landscape format. It’s quite cinematic in many ways.
PC: How did you enter the sphere of painting royal portraits?
RHF: I’ve been in the field for 30 years but there is no set path for portrait painters to follow. It’s word of mouth. You break into different media in different parts of the world. I’ve lived abroad for so long, Paris for 11 years, London for 20. Really in a sense, you organically build up to the top.
Heims and Mountbatten were in Houston not only for the reveal of Rashid’s portrait but also for soliciting sponsors for a painting of Jane Goodall, which once completed by Heims is destined for the Natural History Museum in London. He also acknowledged that there might be a bit of scouting for subjects from the Houston area.
PC Seen: Rashid’s husband Dr. Shahzad Jokhio, Joanne King Herring, Mimi Vance, Don Kendall, Andrew and Mathew Tharp-Wyatt, Dawsel White, Tamara and Jim Hughes, Tina Lundquist, Tama Lundquist Faust, Bianca Jolly, Sylvia Fosythe, Nini Hale, Yoon Smithm Laura Whalen, Remington Bruce, and Dr. Alice Mao Brams.
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