London: The National Portrait Gallery presents a painting of Sam Smith as a semi-naked angel for the collection 'History Makers'

The "Gloria" artwork, which features singer Sam Smith as a nearly naked angel, is already hanging on the walls of the newly refurbished National Portrait Gallery in London. 

The image shows the artist with wings and a revealing toga, with Smith holding a harp as the iconography of this celestial being in art usually does.

For Sam Smith to be able to pose for the painting, painted in 2023 by French artists Pierre et Gilles, was a "dream come true," as he himself assured in statements collected by the BBC:

"I have admired the beautiful work of Pierre et Gilles for years, their incredible portraits of icons like Jean Paul Gaultier and Marc Almond are truly iconic, and to sit for them was a dream come true."Sam Smith statement.

What Smith never imagined was that his portrait would end up on the walls of the National Portrait Gallery so, said the artist in statements collected by The Telegraph, his joy was all the greater when he received the call asking him to lend his work:

"I was so happy when the National Portrait Gallery asked me if they could loan the piece. It’s very important to me to support the arts. Being in their new History Makers section is an honour." Statement from singer Sam Smith.

The painting is already part of the "History Makers" collection, the most important collection of portraits in the country in which there are already works of art by Harry Styles, King Charles III and the Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton hanging on the walls alongside paintings of Henry VIII, Sir Winston Churchill, among many others.

However, many citizens are not happy with the inclusion of the portrait of the non-binary artist, known for his highly sexual content and for controversies such as his Satanic performance at the Grammy's.

A fact that does not seem to worry the London gallery that sees more positives than negatives in exhibiting the work that portrays Sam Smith as an innocent angel. So assured the gallery's curator of photography, Clare Freestone, to the BBC stating that hanging the "Gloria" panting was an "amazing moment for Sam's fans to connect on a deeper level with the portrait."