'Force of nature' Strikingly green Attenborough portrait unveiled

Jonathan Yeo hopes he has communicated the sitter's "wisdom and thoughtfulness" in his latest portrait, but also the "sort of childlike, infectious enthusiasm" that audiences know so well.

- Mark Brown

Yeo is talking about his new, strikingly green, portrait of Sir David Attenborough, a figure who has gone beyond being a national treasure to someone known globally, and someone people might listen to when it comes to the catastrophes facing the world.

The portrait was commissioned by the Royal Society and Yeo believes it is more relevant than ever. "At a time when the planet seems more fragile than it ever has, that ability to educate people - and let's face it, our politicians aren't doing a very good job of dealing with the problems at hand - is more important than ever," Yeo said.

Yeo is talking just a month after one of the biggest fusses over a portrait for years: his vast and vividly red portrait of King Charles.

Measuring 230cm by 165.5cm, it is the first official painted portrait of Charles as king and went down badly with some critics. It was, for the Guardian's Jonathan Jones, a bland, formulaic "masterpiece of shallowness".

For the Washington Post's Sebastian Smee it was "confused, obsequious, oversized" and "unaccountably frightening".

The New Statesman defended it, sort of. "This portrait will remind future generations of the King's weirdness," wrote Kara Kennedy.