(openPR) - A Los Angeles artist gave Elton John a painting he'd done of Princess Diana, helping the rock star deal with his sense of loss.

Everywhere around the world - those few people who were admitted to Sir Elton John's private dressing room saw her. Ted Oliver, writing in Britain's Mirror newspaper (5/29/98) described her as "wearing a deep v-necked black dress and looking at her most beautiful and relaxed".

A member of Elton's road crew was overheard saying: "She goes with him everywhere. I know he talks to her before he goes on stage."

What they were referring to was a life size portrait of Princess Diana, given to Elton shortly after her death by Los Angeles-based artist Louis Briel (www.louisbriel.com).

The painting is now featured in Diana In Art, by Mem Mehmet, a collection of portraits of the Princess from around the world. It is published this month by Pop Art Books.

In September 1997, just a month after her death, Louis Briel, painted the portrait of the Princess to deal with the unexpected grief he was feeling. Days after finishing the portrait, he saw Elton on the Oprah Winfrey Show. So touched was he by Elton's love for Diana, he gave the painting to the rock star.

"He needed it," says Briel who, for a commission like this, would normally charge up to $14,000 USD.

"Trying to put a value on a posthumous painting, done in the days following the death of the subject, is like trying to put a value on a life - it can truly never be recreated," says Briel.

Moved by the kind gesture, Elton sent a handwritten note to Briel thanking him and saying the portrait was "beautiful". The star told him: "I am going to take the canvas on tour with me, so that I can look at it each night before I go on stage. Then the portrait will be sent to my home in England." And he finished: "You are a very kind man and the gift is very much appreciated. Much love, Elton."

True to his word, Elton took the portrait around the world with him on "The Big Picture Tour" in 1997-98. It hung in his dressing room at every venue worldwide and brought him comfort in the aftermath of Diana's funeral, at which he performed a revised version of his hit song "Candle In The Wind".

Staff reported that not only did Elton gaze at the portrait before going on stage each night, he also used to look at the portrait intensely - as if he was seeking to psychically communicate with it.

After the tour a member of Elton's team told Briel: "The painting is like a genie. It goes where he goes. We've packed it up and unpacked it at every stop around the world. I know he talks to her before he goes on stage."

Someone who was close to Elton's alcohol/drug recovery said: "I'm sure Diana is his higher power. She tells him [via the portrait] what shoes to wear."

The painting is now part of the singer's personal collection but it means so much to him that he has kept it almost under lock and key. He has never shown the painting publicly, as to do so would break the spell.

In 2003, a visitor to Elton's Windsor home told reporters that his private chapel was decorated with two enormous portraits: one of Diana (presumably Briel's) and the other of fashion designer Gianni Versace.

But does Diana really inhabit the mysterious portrait? Can she truly be Elton's spirit guide?

Briel is certain this is the case. During his more than thirty year career he has made a specialty of posthumous portraits. He suspects the portrait had a healing and restorative effect on Elton - that it soothed his grief and kept him company during a difficult and painful time.

"I've seen it over and over again," Briel says. "A posthumous painting is a spirit healer. For those surviving it heals in a manner that old photos can't. The painting functions in this world very much like an individual and takes on a kind of personality - maybe because the painting is a brand new creation that includes the perfected past and the truth of the present. The new portrait transcends death precisely because it includes knowledge of it. The painting functions in this world very much like an individual and takes on a kind of personality. The life-size painting reoccupies the spiritual window the subject left."

So, Briel, says: "I'll bet he still talks to her at Woodside, and I wouldn't be surprised if she even talks back. Paintings are that way, you know."

But what was it about the portrait that moved moved Elton so much?

"I believe my feelings of sadness and grief matched Elton's," says Briel. "And yet the painting is not sad - wistful and bittersweet maybe, but it is also soft and kind, gentle and welcoming. It says, 'I'm okay'."

Many who grieved terribly after Diana's death are already taking comfort in the painting, now that images of it are finally being seen publicly. Briel has received emails from people around the world saying that the painting - with its peace and tranquility - symbolizes closure in the troubled Diana story.

"People are saying that my painting closes the door on all the conspiracy theories and claims of Mohamed Al Fayed that have continued to surround Diana after her death," says Briel. "People feel that, at last, she can rest in peace."

But Briel reveals one wish: "When I met him, Elton said he would one day give the painting to the Princes William and Harry. I hope he will do so now. It would help heal them and come to terms with their mother's tragic death. It helped heal Elton, perhaps now it's time for him to give it to the Princes, who truly need it."

Further information
www.louisbriel.com

JIMMY LEE SHREEVE
Author & journalist
"Blood Rites" (Arrow 2006), "Doktor Snake" (St Martin's Press 2004)
Independent, Daily Express, Telegraph Earth, Sunday Express, Best, Bizarre

17 Riseway Close, Norwich,
Norfolk, NR1 4NJ, England.

jimmy.shreeve@gmail.com
www.jimmyleeshreeve.com

Tel: 01603 701937
Cell: 07980 330579

Jimmy Lee Shreeve is the author of two books. The latest is "Blood Rites" (Arrow 2006), an investigation into current cases of ritual human sacrifice occurring in London, USA, Africa, India and other parts of the world. While "Doktor Snake's Voodoo Spellbook" (St Martin's Press 2004), is a mix of fact and fantasy, based on the time Jimmy spent playing guitar in a world music band with a voodoo practitioner from Trinidad.

As a journalist he writes for The Independent, Telegraph Earth, Sunday Express, Sunday Telegraph, Daily Express, Bizarre Classic Cars and Best. Jimmy has also written for Front, Maxim, The Big Issue, The Financial Times, The Mail On Sunday and for Chat.

He covers technology, environment, travel, health, crime and science.

Jimmy has appeared on radio and TV shows across the world. And has been covered by newspapers and magazines from LA and London to India and Japan.