Queen Elizabeth II: Essex artist delighted portrait chosen by BBC

Portrait artist Richard Stone has painted pictures of several members of the Royal Family, including the Queen Mother

An artist who painted a portrait of the Queen said he was "extremely proud" his work was chosen by the BBC as a "definitive image" of Her Majesty for its obituary broadcasts.

Richard Stone, from Witham, Essex, took three years to paint the portrait which he gifted to Colchester in 1992.

The 8ft (2.4m) by 5ft (1.5m) canvas hangs in Moot Hall.

The portrait was later chosen by the Queen as the image for the Royal Mail airmail stamp.

Following the death of the Queen, the image has been used in BBC broadcasts across the UK and the world.

"When I was a four-year-old, I was outside Buckingham Palace holding on to the railings and shouted at the top of my voice, 'I want to paint the Queen'," said Mr Stone.

"Well, 35-odd years later, there I was at Buckingham Palace about to do just that."

Mr Stone described painting this portrait of Her Majesty, which he later gifted to Colchester, as "a labour of love"

The artist said prior to painting his first portrait of the Queen, he had spent years sifting through art history books and studying the grand masters.

"I was very aware of the great portraits painted by Holbein of King Henry VIII and Van Dyke of Charles I," he said.

"I mean, monumental works that have transcended time and given us a window to another world, and frozen in time the look, the appearance, of great monarchs.

"And here I was being commissioned to paint a picture for history."

According to Mr Stone, the Queen said his first sketch of her would make a very good stamp

The Queen agreed to sit for him after Sir Bob Russell, the former mayor of Colchester and its MP, wrote to Her Majesty's private secretary making the request.

Setting about the task in June 1989, Mr Stone said he did not simply want to "replicate what was in front of me, but to capture something of the spirit and personality of the lady who was the Queen".

He said: "So it wasn't just being overawed by the Queen wearing the crown and the great robes of state, but it was actually about capturing something of the very person, who had warmth, had, if you want, a steadfastness, all those attributes of not just a monarch, but of a real person."

The Queen sat for Mr Stone on 10 occasions, over a period of a year, with each sitting lasting an hour-and-a-half.

"She was absolutely marvellous and totally professional. It's an occupational hazard having a portrait painted," he said.

"It was a huge privilege to spend so much time with the Queen," said Mr Stone

For Mr Stone, the three-year period it took to complete the work was "a labour of love".

"I enjoyed every single second of agonising over that picture. I so wanted to get it right.

"I mean, it was a huge privilege to spend so much time with the Queen.

"So on reflection, and here we are many years later looking back, it was very special.

"The fact it has been chosen by the BBC as the definitive image means so much to me - that if it's thought as one picture that I'm to be remembered by, my legacy, I'm a very proud man."