Tony Blair's portrait

Yesterday in the Mail there was a picture of Tony Blair's portrait executed by an artist called Phil Hale, a prize winning artist highly regarded by National portrait gallery. I could not find the size of the painting, although it does look big. Blair looks very tired, no tie, and to my knowledge the head looks too high and too big ! The artist mentions that he struggled to bring it down to size and that it should be smaller. The critic in the Mail, David Lee says : _ "Everything about this picture up to the head works satisfactorily. ......... ..........Unfortunately the head is so odd there is no averting one's eye from it." (and I will not add any further comment about the portrait from this critic) However what makes my blood boils it the following comment to finish his critic : - "The problem for portraiture seems to be that we know already too well the appearance of the sitters from television and newspapers. Paintings look somehow fake. Gone are the days when artists could effortlessly produce a picture that did not look somehow strange and was entirely convincing in all its facets." >:-( Sorry Mr David Lee, but portraiture if finely executed is still the practice of traditional fine art. A portrait can reveal far more than a photo. There are plenty of talented artists who CAN make a portrait like in the old time, convincing.