The Sunday Times 22nd August 1999

IS THIS the revenge of the artist? What was going to be a straightforward portrait of Sir Jeremy Isaacs has turned into an unflattering depiction of the former head of the Royal Opera House as a gang leader surrounded by 12 hideous "disciples".

Now the National Portrait Gallery, which was keen to buy Peter Howson's picture for display, is no longer interested. And Isaacs and his wife, the arts journalist Gillian Widdicombe, are so upset that they have dismissed the idea of purchasing the Hogarth-style portrait, full of men with facial afflictions, stubby fingers and an even stubbier cigar.

Isaacs, who was seen in the BBC fly-on-the-wall documentary series The House, as, said the critics, "bull-headed and argumentative", is being, in public at least, diplomatic about the painting.

Public face: Isaacs as he prefers to be seen. He hates comparisons with Michael Winner

"I sat for him one morning. He thanked me for being a brave man. I was not sure what he meant. But when I saw it I was astounded."

Widdicombe, whose idea it was to get a portrait of her husband, is more annoyed. "It was entirely unexpected. It's also not physically like him." When asked whether she would buy it, Widdicombe, who also used to work at the Opera House, said: "You know what Peter's prices are. We can't afford them." In fact, the Isaacs house hold already owns two of Howson's drawings and two other recent paintings.

But why did Howson, 41, best known as a war artist in Bosnia and more recently in Kosovo, paint Isaacs, 66, in such a fashion? Both men are no-nonsense Glaswegians, with a shared love of football. "I don't see Jeremy that often, though we have been reasonably friendly," said Hoswon, speaking from his Glasgow studio.

The artist admits that he was irritated by Isaacs, who was also the first chief executive of Channel 4 and is the current president of the Royal Television Society, during the two-hour sitting for the painting. "He kept moving about and reading the papers," he said. But this was not the whole reason: "To be frank, it was more that I lost interest in Jeremy himself when I began painting." Howson says he cannot really explain how, in the end, he had the idea for painting 12 gangland disciples clustered around the hapless Isaacs.

"Jeremy is really Christ in the painting," says Howson. "I thought it would be a laugh to have him as Jesus." To some, Isaacs looks more of a mix between Fagin and a Glasgow thug. "Well, yes, he does look like a mafia leader," says Howson, who also admits that he was "frightened" to ask Isaacs and his wife to view it.

"I knew the reaction would not be good. But I have not made him look like a fool. Nor do I think his arrogant side comes across. I really do have a high regard for Jeremy and how hard he works and what a strong character he is."

Charles Saumarez Smith, director of the National Portrait Gallery, said last week that he rejected the painting because it was "neither right as a record of likeness nor was it sufficiently commemorative. Portraiture is a sensitive business".

Larger than life: Howson's painting depicts Isaacs as a gang leader, surrounded by 12 thuggish disciples

Even so, one of Britain's top portrait painters, Michael Noakes, whose pictures include the Queen, Lady Thatcher and President Clinton, argues that "to flatter somebody in a portrait can be an insult. Having said that, these days sitters are usually more relaxed and so the portraits themselves usually look more natural".

It is thought that one of the reasons for Isaac's displeasure with the painting is the possibility that some may see a likeness to the film director Michael Winner. Isaacs, who in the past 18 months has grown his hair long, is openly concerned that people think he looks like Winner in the flesh. "It really bugs him," Said Keith Cooper, who, as the former head of corporate affairs at Covent Garden, was one of the "stars" in The House. "Jeremy is quite vain."

But Winner, who directed the Death Wish series of films and is a Sunday Times restaurant critic, is amused. "Jeremy came up to me a while ago and said that people were always saying they mistook him for me. Jeremy then asked me if people mistook me for him. I simply replied, 'I have never been mistaken for you, Jeremy.'"

As it happens, Winner has recently had his own portrait painted by Peter Edwards. "At first I hated it, because it made me look like a troll. So I kept on rejecting it until I was happy." In an odd twist, the National Portrait Gallery is coming to see the portrait, currently in Winner's home, with a view to buying it.

Perhaps Isaacs, who can, say friends, appear at times a bit brusque and conceited, should have done more homework on Howson. His paintings often show people with larger-than-life features or in unexpected situations. He is also not unused to controversy and has recently been involved in a row with Glasgow City Council over a portrait of its Lord Provost, Pat Lally.

When Dawn French sat for him, he shocked her with the final picture. Though she had been fully clothed in the studio, Howson ended up with a picture of the comedian nude. "She bought it off me," says Howson.

Five years ago, Howson achieved notoriety when the Imperial War Museum rejected one of his war paintings from Bosnia because it thought it offensive. The painting, called Rape, showed a woman being assaulted by a man. Howson said: "It was a realistic portrayal of what really happened in Bosnia and I was furious with the museum's attitude."

Howson's picture of Isaacs is now kept in a room in the Flowers East gallery in London, hidden from public view. "It may, however, go on display in an exhibition of Peter's here later in the year," says Matthew Flowers, the gallery owner. "Oh God," responds Widdicombe. "I think Jeremy and I will have to ensure we're on holiday in India."