Winner of The Holburne Dukes Portrait Prize 2006

The winner of this year's biennial competition was announced at a reception at the Holburne Museum on Monday 30 October. The panel of judges, including the artist Sir Peter Blake, the Times art critic Rachel Campbell-Johnston, and writer and broadcaster Bel Mooney unanimously agreed the winner as The Artist's Parents (after Dix) by Vincent Brown.

Sir Peter Blake commented that the portrait was 'a beautiful and tender painting which showed great insight into the characters of the sitters.
Sir Peter felt confident that Vincent Brown would produce an interesting commission for the Holburne Museum with the £5,ooo prize.

RachelCampbell-Johnston of the Times said that she loved the 'unsparing exactitude of the portrait, its bleakness and the totemic feel of the figures' She felt that the painting also demonstrated 'great technical competence'.

Bel Mooney revealed that she was immediately drawn to the portrait as there was something touching about it which reminded her of her own parents. She said that 'looking at the figures in the painting you feel as if you are looking at a real life story of two people; in a sense it is a novel in paint'.