A legal dispute between Jersey Heritage and the artist of world-famous holographic Queen Elizabeth II portraits which hang in Gorey Castle has been settled, it has emerged – but the terms of the agreement will remain confidential.
Express last year revealed that Jersey Heritage was suing Chris Levine, the creator of the portraits commissioned by the historic organisation to mark the island’s 800-year allegiance to the crown.
Jersey Heritage claimed that the light artist had breached a 2015 agreement regulating use of the images, and generated millions of pounds from selling unlicensed copies.
The portraits were created from sittings with the Queen at Buckingham Palace in 2003 and 2004 by Mr Levine and Rob Munday, a pioneer in holography and lenticular imaging.
The public first glimpsed Equanimity, a holographic portrait of the Queen, during a visit King Charles – then Prince of Wales – made to Jersey in 2004.
A second, less formal, image called Lightness of Being dates from four years later, and forms part of the collection of images which became the subject of a legal case in England.
Jersey Heritage claimed that Mr Levine had made millions from selling and exploiting copies of both works without honouring the 2015 agreement that required him to pay a 20% royalty, leaving at least £650,000 unpaid plus £100,000 from the earlier settlement.
Mr Levine countered that only Equanimity was commissioned and paid for, and argued he should receive 80% of entrance fees from Mont Orgueil Castle, where the portraits are displayed.
But yesterday, Jersey Heritage and Mr Levine released a joint statement announcing that they had agreed to settle the case.
No details were provided about any possible payment, however, or on what specific areas of the dispute, if any, the parties had come to an agreement.
“The terms of the settlement are confidential,” the statement said.
“The parties acknowledge that Chris Levine was the sole artist commissioned by The Jersey Heritage Trust to create the portrait and both parties remain incredibly proud of the creative collaboration between artist Chris Levine, holographer Robert Munday of UK Company Spatial Imaging, Jeffrey Robb also of UK Company Spatial Imaging and Dr John Perry (USA) which resulted in the ground-breaking and iconic portrait of Her Late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, titled Equanimity.”
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INSIGHT: Jersey Heritage in legal row with artist over “exploitation” of Queen portraits
The historic organisation commissioned unique holograph artwork from light artist Chris Levine in 2003 to celebrate 800 years since Jersey pledged allegiance to the Crown in 1204. Equanimity and Lightness of Being, along with “derivative versions” of the holographic images, are now the subject of a legal case which Jersey Heritage kickstarted earlier this year.…