A DISTINGUISHED artist who lived in Malvern has died aged 84.

Among the eminent who sat for portrait painter Michael Noakes during his long and illustrious career are the Queen and most other members of the royal family, Bill Clinton, Pope Benedict XVI and Frank Sinatra.

His daughter, Anya Noakes, said: “My father passed away last Thursday, May 30, following a stroke but was painting right up until the end, having submitted four portraits to the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, including one of Judi Dench and one of the Archbishop of Birmingham.

“He attended the private view at the Mall Galleries on Wednesday, May 9, which he thoroughly enjoyed, But he was feeling a little unwell and was taken into St Thomas’ for observation.

“Sadly he suffered a major stroke in the early hours of the following morning from which he didn’t recover.”

Mr Noakes worked in the Oval Office on his portrait of President Clinton and he painted Margaret Thatcher several times, firstly for the Grocers’ Company during her final year in office as Prime Minister, as well as later for a large portrait.

Other recent portraits include Nobel prize-winner Sir Tim Hunt, Melvyn Bragg and Sir Eric Anderson KT.

Leading figures in the past have included Sir Roger and Lady Bannister, Sir Alec Guinness, Archbishop Runcie, Lord Denning, Cardinal Basil Hume and Sir Donald Sinden.

Noakes’ portrayal of Frank Sinatra, for the record-sleeve of Portrait of Sinatra, was in the singer’s collection.

With the Queen’s agreement, throughout 1999 Michael Noakes made hundreds of drawings and paintings to illustrate a book, which was written by his wife, who died in 2011, Dr Vivien Noakes, The Daily Life of the Queen: An Artist’s Diary.

Michael Noakes broadcast and televised widely on art subjects. He was a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, a past-president of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and a past chairman of the Contemporary Portrait Society.

His work is in the collection of the Queen as well as in the Royal Collection at Windsor, and in the collection of the Prince of Wales.

A funeral service will be held at St Wulstan’s, Little Malvern, at 3pm on Thursday, June 21, and all who knew him are welcome.