Did Court Sketch Artist Prettify Trump?
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Three court sketch artists were present in Miami on June 13 when former President Trump sat in Federal Court to hear the indictments brought against him. Most people had no problem with two of the artists.
Elizabeth Williams (above) and Jane Rosenberg (below) passed the masses’ muster.
But William J. Hennessy, Jr.‘s sketches brought some commentary.
Sure, the artist nailed Trump’s favorite posture: sitting hunched-over and cross-armed like a petulant child who was just denied dessert. But the face and hair are a full catfish. Trump looks decades younger, with neater hair. It is just the type of photo Trump would call the most beautiful painting in the history of America, and hang at Mar-a-Lago.
The sketches came under criticism by some on social media who claimed that Hennessy portrayed Trump as younger than his age of 77 and thinner than reality.
“Is this William J Hennessy Jr’s audition to do Trumps official Whitehouse portrait?” one Twitter user asked of the sketch.
The artist who sketched former President Donald Trump’s arraignment last week in Florida responded to criticisms that he portrayed Trump as younger and more physically fit than reality.
“It’s rare I get any kind of feedback,” sketch artist William J. Hennessy Jr., 65, told the Boston Globe.
The Boston Globe article/interview all the above are quoting:
The artist said he’d received mixed reviews (about ’fifty-fifty’ he said) of his sketches of Trump — some good, some bad.
“Some said he looked too thin, too young, and some said he looked too good,” Hennessy said, noting that the negative feedback seemed to come from people who “didn’t care much for Trump.”
He said he wasn’t trying to make Trump look any better than he does. His goal is to capture the scenes in the courtroom like a camera would.
“I don’t editorialize,” he said. “I just draw what I see.”
The BBC compares the sketches of the three artists and the recent courtroom appearance of Trump.
PBS features a gallery of the Bill Henessy sketches from the Miami courthouse.
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