The shadow of Monica Lewinsky is in some ways still cast over the United States' 42nd president, Bill Clinton, and the shadow is cast over the presidential portrait in rotation at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.
A dress-shaped shadow is barely discernible in the painting's background, but to the painter, it represents the "literal shadow" the Lewinsky scandal cast on the former head of state's legacy, according to People.
Nelson Shanks, who has painted for Ronald Reagan and Princess Diana, painted Clinton in a New York studio in 2005. For background reference, Shanks recreated the Oval Office in his Philadelphia studio.
At first, Shanks said the shadow was a technical necessity. "You see that mantelpiece painted on the left? I had to do something to break up that line," he told People.
Shanks told the Philadelphia Daily News a different story in an interview published on Monday. When asked who was the hardest subject to capture, the 77-year-old painter replied: "Clinton was hard. I'll tell you why. The reality is he's probably the most famous liar of all time. He and his administration did some very good things, of course, but I could never get this Monica thing completely out of my mind and it is subtly incorporated in the painting.
"If you look at the left-hand side of it there's a mantel in the Oval Office and I put a shadow coming into the painting and it does two things. It actually literally represents a shadow from a blue dress that I had on a mannequin, that I had there while I was painting it, but not when he was there. It is also a bit of a metaphor in that it represents a shadow on the office he held, or on him.
"And so the Clintons hate the portrait. They want it removed from the National Portrait Gallery. They're putting a lot of pressure on them."
The National Portrait Gallery denies anyone is advocating for the portrait's removal. "No one (including the Clintons) have asked us to remove the portrait from the gallery," a spokeswoman told People.
"There's some humor attached to it," Shanks told People. "But I hope it's deeper than that. I hope it's reflective of history and an anecdote that history should respect and know about at the same time."
The portrait is currently not on display at the National Portrait Gallery - for unrelated reasons, according to People. Will the painting adorn gallery walls again? The gallery spokeswoman told People, "That's a consideration for the future."
