Following a backroom deal negotiated overnight, the official portrait of former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, unveiled yesterday, has been replaced by a portrait of Julia Gillard.
Parliament House sources say the Rudd portrait, while popular, was proving difficult to work with, and that the gallery wall needed a fresh start.
“The Rudd portrait was a good portrait that had lost its way,” one source said.
He acknowledged that the portrait was popular amongst the general public. “Visitors were very excited about the Rudd portrait, but the fact is, the painting was not well liked by the other portraits around it. It was very demanding. It expected the other portraits to be up at all hours of the day. It was time to go”.
The Gillard portrait will hang in the gallery for the near future before being replaced by the Rudd portrait.
