The Kate Middleton portrait is being quickly and aggressively pulled apart by art critics and amateur reviewers on Twitter. The portrait - by artist Paul Emsley - was unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery on Friday (January 11, 2013), though attracted scrutiny for its soft focus and lack of warmth. Critics say the Duchess' national beauty is almost entirely absent. 

Mr Emsley himself has spoken of the difficulty of painting one of Britain's most elegant women, admitting to the Daily Mirror, "The fact she is a beautiful woman is for an artist difficult. In the end I think what I tried to do really was to convey something about her warmth and her smile." Middleton, who has a degree in the history of art, was apparently "amazed" after seeing the finished painting during a tour of the gallery in London. "I think, from what I can see this morning, she's delighted with it. I'm very happy about that," said Emsley. The Glasgow-born artist appears to have used similar techniques to those apparent in his portrait of Nelson Mandela, and his latest work took him three and a half months. "A person whose image is so pervasive, for an artist it is really difficult to go beyond that and find something which is original - you have to rely on your technique and your artistic instincts to do that and I hope I've succeeded," he added.

The art critics were presumably sharpening their knives before seeing the portrait, and, as expected, gave Emsley a massive thumbs down early on Friday. Mark Hudson of The Telegraph said, "What is it about the conjunction of the Royal Family, oil paint and official commissions that seems to lead inevitably to aesthetic disaster? Even Lucien Freud made a fudge job of his portrait of the Queen." Charlotte Higgins of The Guardian asked, "How is it that she has been transformed into something unpleasant from the Twilight franchise?" adding, "The first thing that strikes you about Middleton's visage as it looms from the sepulchral gloom of her first official portrait is the dead eyes." 

From Contactmusic's purely amateurish eye, the painting sort of looks like Kate Middleton, but something's wrong, somewhere. We're almost certain he's got the nose very, very wrong, and the lips might be a bit off too. In the comical world of Twitter, users were a little more irreverent in their critique. Rohan Joshi said, "Kate Middleton's new portrait looks like that creepy painting from hell that can stare into your soul in Ghostbusters 2," while the enjoyably named Felix Fatbastard said, "That Kate Middleton portrait would look perfect printed three times alongside a full moon on a cheap fleece jacket."

What do you think of the Kate Middleton portrait?