Cameras flashed and cheers erupted Monday when the official portrait of President Barack Obama was unveiled in the Capitol rotunda, where it will hang.
The painting features a serious Obama, which Colorado Springs artist Sarah Boardman said was deliberate.
“It suited him better than smiling,” she said. “The smile looked too light for the job.”
Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb and his wife, former state Rep. Wilma Webb, who both helped to raise money for the portrait, had the honor of pulling away the red silk that covered the painting.
Wellington Webb got a huge round of applause when he made a veiled reference to the events Sunday, when Obama announced the U.S. had captured and killed Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks. “I can’t think of a better day to have this portrait unveiled for President Obama,” Webb said.
The unveiling was watched by lawmakers, Capitol staffers and guests, who were standing under the gallery of presidents on the third-floor rotunda.
Former House Majority Leader Paul Weissmann, D-Louisville, spearheaded the effort to add the Obama portrait to the Capitol’s presidential gallery.
Wilma Webb read a Denver Post story from last year in which Weissmann said they were having trouble raising the $10,000 needed for the portrait. The Webbs kicked in $2,500, and helped to raise more money.
Others who provided funding for the portrait include First Bank, Xcel, Comcast, Western Union and Arts of Colorado.
