The College hall has a new painting hanging on its walls.  This is the portrait of the thirteenth Master Professor Paul Luzio, which was painted by John Walton RP. The painting shows Paul in the foreground and the College tower beyond, but also depicts some aspects of Paul’s time as Master.  He particularly wanted to have some representation of the annual Garden Party that has grown and developed over the years, becoming a very happy and joyful event each June involving hundreds of present and former members of the College.

During Paul’s time as Master the Coton Morris Men came along to the Garden Party each year to provide entertainment with their dancing.  One of the Coton Morris musicians is Paul’s wife Jane who is depicted playing the melodeon.  Also in the background are some items to remind members of the College that the recent past has been a period of sporting as well as academic success and the College oars, the bear and the pink and blue rugby shirt pay tribute to some of the sports teams and individuals involved in those successes.

Throughout his time as Master, Paul continued to lead a  research group in the University’s Clinical School. In the portrait he is shown holding a protein structure, called a clathrin cage that he chose to represent his academic field of research in cell biology. Clathrin cages act as coats that surround little vesicles that travel around inside cells, carrying proteins and fats from one place to another, as part of a process called intracellular membrane traffic. When Paul tried to explain this to the artist, John asked if the vesicles are like buses inside the cell and Paul agreed that is a good analogy.

The portrait painter John Walton RP has enjoyed a distinguished career as an artist. Born in 1925, he studied at Ruskin School of Drawing in Oxford and the Slade School of Fine Art in London. He has exhibited at the Royal Academy, Royal Society of Portrait Painters, Paris Salon, Academie des Beaux Arts-Institut de France and throughout the UK and France.  He was elected a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters (RP) in 1976, was Chairman of the Federation of British Artists (FBA) from 1990-1997 and was Principal of Heatherley’s School of Fine Art in Chelsea, the oldest independent art school in London, from 1974-2013.

The College Council has agreed that the portrait may be displayed at the next Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters to be held at Mall Galleries on The Mall in central London from 16 April – 1 May 2015, 10am to 5pm (open until 7pm on Tuesdays – closes 1pm on final day). The exhibition is by private view only, however the College has a limited number of viewing cards available. Please contact the Development Office at development@st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk if you would like a card.