The Trump portrait was painted by artist Sarah Boardman during Trump’s first term and unveiled in 2019. Colorado Republicans raised more than $10,000 via GoFundMe to commission it.

The portraits in the Colorado capitol’s third-floor rotunda up to and including Jimmy Carter – who was president from 1977 to 1981 – were donated as part of a collection. The others were donated by political parties or, more recently, paid for by outside fundraising.

Before the Trump painting was installed, a prankster placed a picture of Russian President Vladimir Putin near the spot intended for the current president.

Boardman did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. She previously told The Denver Post that it was important her depictions of both Obama and Trump looked “apolitical.”

“There will always be dissent, so pleasing one group will always inflame another. I consider a neutrally thoughtful, and non-confrontational, portrait allows everyone to reach their own conclusions in their own time,” Boardman told the Colorado Times Recorder in 2019.

Trump’s comments had prompted a steady stream of visitors to pose for photos with the painting before the announcement that it would be taken down.

Aaron Howe, visiting from Wyoming, stood in front of Trump’s portrait, looking down at photos of the president on his phone, then back up at the portrait.

“Honestly, he looks a little chubby,” said Howe of the portrait, which he said was “better than I could do”.

“I don’t know anything about the artist,” said Howe, who voted for Trump. “It could be taken one way or the other.”

Kaylee Williamson, an 18-year-old Trump supporter from Arkansas, got a photo with the portrait.

“I think it looks like him. I guess he’s smoother than all the other ones,” she said. “I think it’s fine.”

Separately, the Kremlin confirmed Monday that Putin had gifted to Trump a portrait of the US president that he had commissioned.

Putin gave the painting to Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, in Moscow this month, the Russian president’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said in a response to a journalist’s question. He declined to comment further.

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The gift was first mentioned last week by Witkoff in an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Witkoff told Carlson that Trump “was clearly touched” by the portrait, which he described as “beautiful”.

Witkoff met Putin after talks with Russian officials about trying to end the war in Ukraine.

During his interview with Carlson, Witkoff described Putin’s gift as “gracious” and recalled how Putin told him he had prayed for Trump last year when he heard the then-candidate had been shot at a rally in Pennsylvania.

“He was praying for his friend,” Witkoff said, recounting Putin’s comments.

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In 2018, Putin gave then-president Trump a soccer ball that the Secret Service had checked for listening devices before Trump gave it to his son – a precaution that hearkened back to a Soviet-era gift to a US diplomat that turned out to be bugged.

It was not immediately known if the portrait Putin gave to Trump had been examined for bugs. The White House hasn’t commented on the portrait.

AP