US President Donald Trump has been gifted a new portrait from his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin – while decrying an existing painting of him as “truly the worst”.
The new portrait has not been shown publicly. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described it as a “personal gift”, adding that only Putin himself had the right to disclose further details.
Meanwhile, Trump took to his Truth Social network to criticise an earlier picture of him that hangs in the Colorado State Capitol building.
The US president has paid close attention to cultivating his image, and made headlines in January by unveiling an official portrait that was variously described by critics as serious or ominous.
Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff confirmed receipt of the new work from Moscow, saying he had been asked to transport it back to Washington.
He described the work as a painting – a “beautiful portrait” by a “leading Russian artist” – but gave no further critique. Trump was “clearly touched by it”, he added.
The gift was confirmed by Peskov, as American and Russian negotiators again sat down for talks in Saudi Arabia as part of Trump’s drive to end the war in Ukraine.
The gift highlights the diplomatic thaw between the two nations after Trump returned to the White House in January.
In an interview, Witkoff – who met Putin 10 days ago – said the Russian president had been “gracious”. Putin told him, he added, that he had prayed for Trump after an assassination attempt against him last year.
That attempt on Trump’s life – which took place during a rally in Pennsylvania – gave rise to perhaps the most iconic image of him ever produced.
AP photographer Evan Vucci caught the moment that Trump, with a bloody ear, held up a defiant fist and told supporters to “fight, fight, fight”. That image was further mythologised by Trump, who used it to adorn the cover of a book.
Trump is yet to publicly comment of the image that was sent by Putin – but he left no doubt of the kind of portraiture he liked and disliked when delivering his views on the Colorado image.
The painting, which was presented to the building in 2019, was “purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before”, he wrote on Truth Social on Monday morning.
That was unlike the same artist’s depiction of Barack Obama, Trump wrote. Offering rare praise for his predecessor, Trump said Obama looked “wonderful” in his own portrait by the same artist, English-born Sarah Boardman.
Trump reportedly lost up to 30lb (13.6kg) during last year’s presidential campaign. He told reporters he had been “so busy” he had not “been able to eat very much”.
The Republican also used the portrait to make a political point – painting Colorado Governor Jared Polis, a Democrat, as “radical” and “extremely weak on crime”.
But the portrait had nothing to do with Polis, US media pointed out. It was instead the result of a crowdfunding campaign that was launched by a Republican. The portrait was reportedly commissioned to fill an empty space that had briefly been filled with an image of Vladimir Putin by a prankster.
The BBC has contacted Ms Boardman for comment. Discussing her work with the Colorado Times Recorder in 2019, she acknowledged that there would “always be anger at a president from one side or the other. It is human nature.”
Another portrait artist told the BBC he “would have painted things slightly differently”, but that presidential portraits were nuanced, and he had sympathy for the artist.
Robert Anderson, who created the official portrait of President George W Bush which hangs in the US National Portrait Gallery, said viewers tended to bring “baggage” depending on their feelings about the painting’s subject.
For that reason, the reaction to an artwork often had “very little to do with the quality of art”, he said.
Of Trump, Mr Anderson said: “I think it would be very difficult to paint him because he has a particular impression of himself which might be very different to that of many others – probably at least half of the country.”
A spokesman for Polis told 9News said the governor was “surprised to learn the president of the United States is an aficionado of our Colorado State Capitol and its artwork”.
The statement continued: “We appreciate the president and everyone’s interest in our capitol building and are always looking for any opportunity to improve our visitor experience.”
