Emma Sergeant (born 9 December 1959) is a British painter.

Early life and education

Emma Sergeant was born on 9 December 1959 in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

to Sir Patrick Sergeant, a financial journalist. She received her education at the Camberwell School of Arts from 1978 to 1979 and at the

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

from 1979 to 1983. During her studies, she won the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

's Portrait Prize, becoming its youngest recipient at the time.

Career

Sergeant began her career with the debut exhibition at

Agnew's Thomas Agnew & Sons is a fine arts dealer in London that began as a print and publishing partnership between Thomas Agnew and Vittore Zanetti in Manchester in 1817. Agnew ended the partnership by taking full control of the company in 1835. The fi ...

in 1984, which sold out. Later, she traveled to the

North-West Frontier Province The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; ) was a province of British India from 1901 to 1947, of the Dominion of Pakistan from 1947 to 1955, and of the Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Pakistan from 1970 to 2010. It was established on 9 November ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

to depict Afghan warriors and

refugees A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

during the war with

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Over the years, she held additional eight exhibitions at Agnew's and the

Fine Art Society The Fine Art Society is a gallery based in both London and in Edinburgh's New Town (originally Bourne Fine Art, established 1978). The New Bond Street, London gallery closed its doors in August 2018 after being occupied by The Fine Art Society ...

, and a retrospective in

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

. She also had a solo show called ''Faces from Four Continents'' at Agnew's in London. From 1995 to 1996, Sergeant served as the official artist to the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

on tours of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, and

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

and has been his guest at Highgrove and

Sandringham Sandringham can refer to: Places Australia * Sandringham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Sandringham, Queensland, a rural locality * Sandringham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne **Sandringham railway line **Sandringham railway station * ...

. Her portraits include Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir David Cecil, the

Duke of York Duke of York is a title of nobility in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of List of English monarchs, English (later List of British monarchs, British) monarchs ...

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi (born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician, philanthropist, and former cricketer who served as the 19th prime minister of Pakistan from August 2018 until April 2022. He was the founder of the political party Pak ...

, and

Jeremy Paxman Jeremy Dickson Paxman (born 11 May 1950) is an English former broadcaster, journalist and author, born in Yorkshire. Born in Leeds, Paxman was educated at Malvern College and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he edited the undergraduate ...

. Several of her paintings are displayed at Highgrove, the residence of Prince Charles. Her last commissioned portrait was of the editor of the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

'',

Paul Dacre Paul Michael Dacre (; born 14 November 1948) is an English journalist and the former long-serving editor of the British tabloid the ''Daily Mail''. He is also editor-in-chief of DMG Media, which publishes the ''Daily Mail'', ''The Mail on Sunda ...

. After seeing polo in Pakistan, Sergeant began playing the game in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and her later work is in equestrian art. She also briefly taught art to prison inmates through the Koestler Award Scheme. Her exhibitions include ''Faces from Four Continents'' at Agnew's, ''Touch the Spirit'' in Siena (later shown in London), and ''From The Sea'' and ''Shades of Grey'' at the

. Some of her artwork has also appeared in the film '' The Lost Son''. In 2022, Sergeant painted the ''Drappellone'' for the

Palio di Siena The Palio di Siena (; known locally simply as ; from Latin ) is a horse race held twice each year, on 2 July and 16 August, in Siena, Italy. Ten horses and riders, bareback (the horses, not the riders) and dressed in the appropriate colours, re ...

, which had resumed after a two-year pandemic hiatus. It was rendered in black and red gouache and featured a horse's head and a contemporary depiction of the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

, which included her own facial features.

Personal life

Sergeant has been married twice, first to Italian banker Riccardo Pavoncelli and later to historian Count

Adam Zamoyski Adam Zamoyski (born 11 January 1949) is a British historian and author descended from the historically important Polish nobility. Personal life Born in New York City in 1949, as Adam Stefan Zamoyski, the youngest son of Count Stefan Zamoyski ( ...

in 2001. She shares her time between

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, where she and Zamoyski engage in

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

writing Writing is the act of creating a persistent representation of language. A writing system includes a particular set of symbols called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which they encode a particular spoken language. Every written language ...

farming Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

, and

horse breeding Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given Horse breed, breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired chara ...

. She owns two dogs: a bull terrier named Carmen, and a

mongrel A mongrel, mutt, or mixed-breed dog is a dog that does not belong to one officially recognized breed, including those that result from intentional breeding. Although the term ''mixed-breed dog'' is sometimes preferred, many mongrels have no kn ...

rescue dog named Doris. Before her marriage with Pavoncelli, she had a four-year relationship with

and a brief relationship with the Earl of Caledon.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sergeant, Emma Living people 1959 births 20th-century English painters 21st-century English painters Alumni of Camberwell College of Arts Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art Painters from London