Hugh Phillips, PRCS

Brian Morgan sat on the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons of England at the time Mr. Hugh Phillips, an Orthopaedic surgeon, was president in 2004. Every College President had an official portrait commissioned, and Brian joked with Hugh that he himself should get the job! Before a “professional” could be engaged however, Hugh was diagnosed with advanced adenocarcinoma of the lung.

Brian thus visited Hugh at home in Norwich, painting an image of him sat in front of his favourite Queen Anne bow window. The backdrop is a lake and boat which repeatedly sank. However, Brian says his first effort was poorly received. “It’s a big window and my first effort showed him rather small which he didn’t approve of when I sent a photo to him. So, I started again.” Sadly, Hugh Phillips died two days thereafter. 

Re-proportioning the image took some time, using photographs of Hugh’s face from before his illness. However, the president was initially painted without his robes. Brain thus persuaded the RCS secretary to lend him the precious official Presidential gown over a bank holiday weekend. It was worn by Brian’s wife, Sally, whilst he painted.

The completed painting includes depictions of the “Tree of Andre”, the “Memoires and Letters of Sir James Paget” and the crest of the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital. Due to the circumstance, there was no time for the College to commission a work from a professional portrait artist, and so this work ended up becoming the “accidental” official work.