Dressed in an open polo shirt and jeans, the former Prime Minister stands casually as the subject of a portrait at his home in Buckinghamshire.
With his hands in his pockets and what looks like a splodge of paint on his jacket, this is a most informal view of Tony Blair.
But what is perhaps most noteworthy is the painting hanging behind Mr Blair – the image by British war artist Ken Howard depicting a Northern Ireland mural with the slogan ‘No Surrender’ and a Union flag and crown.
Dressed in an open polo shirt and jeans, the former Prime Minister stands casually as the subject of a portrait at his home in Buckinghamshire
At a time when the arrest of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has threatened to plunge the Northern Ireland peace process – which Mr Blair helped to negotiate – into fresh turmoil, the image is striking.
In the mural painting, obscured from view by Mr Blair is a small child under the words ‘WAR child’ and the statement: ‘Provies rule ok’ – slang for the Provisional IRA.
Ken Howard, who was Official War Artist to Northern Ireland in 1973 and documented the Troubles for the Imperial War Museum, said: ‘If I sat drawing in the middle of Falls Road, the local Catholics would come up and see what I was doing, and there was nothing questionable about it.
They knew I was with the army and where I was staying because the intelligence at that time was pretty good. But I never felt in danger.’
Mr Blair bought the painting at auction for £26,250 in 2003, and it now hangs in his office at home.
Alastair Adams, who was commissioned to paint the former premier by the National Portrait Gallery, said the Ken Howard picture made an ‘interesting backdrop’ to the portrait and said: ‘It reflects his work back in the day on the Northern Ireland peace process.’
Mr Adams also said he wanted to capture Mr Blair ‘as he was’ and added: ‘I wanted to paint him as he was on a day-to-day basis when I visited to undertake sittings for the formal NPG commission.
‘The work was completed during the Olympics and the strong presence of the Union flag seemed to fit the occasion.
‘He was a compliant sitter and was happy to pose for me however I saw fit, no strings attached.’
Another of Mr Adams’ portraits of Mr Blair hangs at the National Portrait Gallery, but the image going on display later this month was in the artist’s private collection and it is the first time it will be shown in public.
The portrait of Tony Blair will hang in the Royal Society Of Portrait Painters Annual Open Exhibition, at the Mall Galleries, London, from May 8-23.
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