Dame Judi Dench — Portrait Sitting (Rory Lewis Photographer 2020)
Few actors embody the depth, intelligence, and quiet authority of Dame Judi Dench. With a career spanning the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, and the Old Vic, her presence on stage and screen has shaped generations of British theatre and cinema. A ten-time BAFTA winner and recipient of numerous honours—including OBE, DBE, and Companion of Honour—her legacy is inseparable from modern performance history.
Dame Judi kindly sat for a portrait at her home as part of my Selah exhibition. The sitting was deliberately brief—just over fifteen minutes—yet within that short window we explored a remarkable range of expressions and inner states. The pace encouraged instinct and spontaneity, allowing moments of stillness, wit, and introspection to surface naturally. The resulting portraits are unguarded and deeply human, shaped as much by silence as by expression.
Dame Judi Dench — Portrait Sitting (Rory Lewis Photographer 2020)
Dame Judi Dench — Portrait Sitting (Rory Lewis Photographer 2020)
My approach to portraiture has long been informed by the visual language of Renaissance and Baroque painting. Drawing from the Old Masters—Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Titian, and Ribera—I seek to recreate not imitation, but atmosphere: sculptural light, restrained tonality, and emotional gravity. This influence is especially pronounced in Selah, a body of work concerned with contemplation, pause, and the inner life of the sitter.
Much contemporary portraiture—particularly within press and corporate commissions—prioritises safety and polish. I am interested in moving away from that impulse. Rather than aggrandisement or flattery, I aim to strip back artifice and allow space for ambiguity, vulnerability, and quiet strangeness. In Dame Judi’s portraits, that philosophy finds a natural home: moments of reflection replace performance, and stillness speaks louder than spectacle.
These images stand not as icons, but as encounters—intimate, honest, and unguarded—capturing one of Britain’s greatest actors in a state of rare and resonant calm.
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