Daughter's painting of dead mother wins BP Portrait prize

A haunting painting of a dead 100-year-old woman, painted over three days as a devotional study by her artist daughter, won the UK's leading prize for portraiture.

Daphne Todd, a former president of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, was named winner of the BP Portrait prize for Last Portrait of Mother, picking up £25,000 and a commission to be decided by trustees of the National Portrait Gallery. The prize was presented at a ceremony in central London.

The public will get to see the portrait up close for the first time from Thursday. Todd expects that some people may be shocked or upset by the painting. "Of course, it's a striking image to come across, paintings of dead people are always affecting," she said. " I think she looks magnificent."



At 63, Todd becomes the oldest winner of the prize, though the rules allowing over-40s to enter were only changed in 2007. Speaking a few hours before winning, Todd had joked that as "the token wrinkly" she had no chance of coming out top.

Todd had painted her mother Annie a number of times over the years - "she never liked them" - and said that it felt right to do so when she died. The undertaker allowed her to spend three days in the funeral parlour cool room painting her mother's body, which can be seen emaciated and propped up on pillows, with her white hospital wristband still on. Her mother had agreed to it. "Happy is not quite the right word, she couldn't care less really, although of course I asked her. I wasn't going to steal her image," said Todd.

It was about a year before Todd decided to enter the painting for the portrait award, a decision that upset some members of her family, notably her brother. "I haven't heard from him since. I'm letting things lie really and there's not much I can do. I've done it now."