The official coronation portrait of Britain’s King Charles was made public on Tuesday, two years after he was crowned, in a tradition dating back more than 400 years to a time when such a painting often became the defining image of a monarch.

Coronation portraits have for centuries been a traditional part of the crowning of a monarch. Queen Elizabeth II’s, by Herbert James Gunn, showed her in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace, the crown and scepter on a table beside her — symbols of rule that traditionally appear in coronation portraits.

On Tuesday, May 6—exactly two years after his coronation ceremony—King Charles and his wife, Queen Camilla, were on hand in the Central Hall at The National Gallery in London to personally unveil the long-awaited portraits.