Official portrait of former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd unveiled at Parliament House

The portrait of the 26th prime minister of Australia, which takes him into a more relaxed domestic setting than the often formal portraits of other former prime ministers, features a cat on the table - Louis or "Jasper 2.0" - perilously close to knocking over another piece of a chess set.

The piece also features Chinese artefacts, Aboriginal art and, on the bookcase, a framed copy of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations, which Mr Rudd delivered in Parliament in 2008. In the portrait, he is wearing a suit but no tie - and the post-prime ministerial beard is there.

After the end of each prime minister's term in office, the Historic Memorials Collection committee commissions an Australian artist to paint their portrait, the former leader having a say in how they are portrayed and the finished work then displayed in the Members' Hall.

The portrait was unveiled in Canberra by the artist on Thursday, with Dr Rudd and wife Therese by his side. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was also at the unveiling, as was billionaire Anthony Pratt, a guest of the artist and United States ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy, and former foreign minister Gareth Evans.

Mr Albanese joked Dr Rudd could pull a crowd, with the Members' Hall packed with dignitaries and visiting school children, as the prime minister also asked how the artist got Dr Rudd to sit for long enough for the painting.

Dr Rudd was also in fine form, kidding that there was a "therapy tent" for his former staff who were present and probably suffering from PTSD after his term.

Two of his three children, Jessica and Marcus, and two of his three grandchildren were also at the unveiling.

Now Australia's ambassador to the United States, Dr Rudd took a decade to get his official portrait done, with prime ministers No. 27 and No. 28, Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott getting theirs up before him.

And the passage of that time since Dr Rudd left politics in late 2013 was perhaps no more evident than in his younger son Marcus, a teenager during his time in the Lodge, now 28 and also bearded like his dad.

Dr Rudd said he had "always pushed to one side" the prospect of having his portrait done, focused more on running a think tank, being an academic and now serving as the ambassador to the US.

"In fact, the directors of the parliamentary collection here became so exasperated that they got to the point of threatening to organise anybody to do a knock-up job based on my official photograph. And if you've seen my official photograph, it's not something of which you would be proud," he said.

"So, vanity ultimately prevailed and I decided to yield to having an official portrait done."

Mr Albanese praised Dr Rudd's term in office, dealing with the global financial crisis and never treating Australia as a less than power in world politics.

Dr Rudd, meanwhile, said the current prime minister had a far more difficult job, dealing with three massive challenges - being in a region where the risk of war was real, dealing with a climate crisis and managing the creep of artificial intelligence.

Mr Rudd also referred back to the time of his government's apology to the Stolen Generation in 2008 and fears then that it would divide the nation, evoking the current climate around the impending referendum on The Voice Indigenous advisory body.

"And when they [critics] said the apology would be problem for the nation - it would unleash this torrent of litigation from Indigenous communities across the nation, that it would in fact set the process of reconciliation backwards not forwards. We proved them wrong," Dr Rudd said.

"In fact, what we did with the apology, was actually bring the people of our country together, black and white, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal. We began a process, a hard process for both sides of politics, of closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians."

Mr Rudd said it "wasn't his place" to wade into politics du jour but did refer to the fears around ramifications of The Voice.

"I would simply ask all Australians to reflect about the fundamentals of whether those fears are well-founded or not," he said.

"The arc of history bends slowly towards justice."

As to the painting, Mr Heimans said by choosing to be painted at home, with his personal artefacts around him, Dr Rudd wanted to evoke a more casual tone in the portrait.

"It is a relaxed portrait, it's not formal and I think that reflects his character in many ways," the artist said.

"He's really easy to talk to to. He connects like an old friend, which is great. So I did feel a relaxed portrait was the best way to capture Kevin.

"But relaxed with a touch of seriousness. He doesn't have a smile on his face, he's looking directly at the viewer and he's continuing to campaign on the issues he feels strongly about."

Mr Heimans, who was given less than an hour with Queen Elizabeth II to paint her portrait in 2012 to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee, had a bit more time with Dr Rudd.

"We had multiple discussions in advance," the artist said.

"COVID interrupted proceedings so we began in December, 2019, quite a while ago. We met in Sydney over the Christmas period and we were due to continue in London, where I was based, but then COVID hit.

"And then, when Australian opened it's doors, we met on numerous occasions and then I went to spend five days with him on the Sunshine Coast.

"We had extensive meetings, and sittings, but it was a very collaborative and considered process."

Dr Rudd, the prime minister from 2007 to 2010; the foreign minister from 2010 to 2012 and prime minister again in 2013, wanted to be portrayed in his home.

"After much discussion between the two of us, and Therese, we settled on his Sunshine Coast home where he felt most at ease," Mr Heimans said.

They also decided to portray 65-year-old Dr Rudd "as he is today" rather than during his leadership because "he's as much engaged in the causes he promoted as prime minister", with Chinese tomes on the table and echoes of the Stolen Generations apology in the art as well.

"It was a depiction of him as today, with a beard, rather than unshaven, in his home environment and doing what he does, writing, writing his next novel in a moment, as if caught off guard," Mr Heimans said.

"It also provided an opportunity to say a lot about his time as prime minister in that setting. He has very eclectic taste. There is a lot of Chinese art, there is a lot of Aboriginal art moreover. And that reflects the causes that he has promoted."

The portrait was not in his study, but at the kitchen table "where he likes to work".

"And it provided these fascinating vistas of the house and, for me, a real opportunity with the book shelf to display his interests through the objects on the bookcase," Mr Heimans said

And the cat? Dr Rudd's beloved cat Jasper passed away in 2012. But not before finding fame, with the Rudd family's Jasper the cat and Abbey the dog featuring in a children's book co-written by Dr Rudd and actor Rhys Muldoon.

"It is a bit of a light-hearted painting on many levels. It doesn't take itself too seriously," Mr Heimans said.

"The cat - Jasper 2.0 - is there. And in a scene that actually happened during the sitting, the cat is walking over the chess board. No symbolism intended, it's really for the viewer to decide what that means, if it means anything other than the cat walked over the chessboard.

"It's nice to leave mysteries in a painting and I think Kevin was wanting to have a little bit of humour in the piece.

"But, also, his life is his work and that's what I found really fascinating. That's his dedication, that's his love and that felt the most natural way to depict him."

Mr Heimans, who is now based between Sydney and London, has painted royalty including Queen Elizabeth and the Price Philip and Denmark's Princess Mary as well as "cultural icons" from author Margaret Atwood to actor Dame Judi Dench.

He has another work already in the Historic Memorials Collection, of Dame Quentin Bryce, unveiled in 2014 to mark the end of her tenure as Australia's first governor-general.

The Rudd portrait was "great" to work on.

"I was really excited to do a public commission for Australia. It's been a while since Dame Quentin Bryce and it was nice to engage in cultural life in Australia, which I really enjoyed," he said.

"It was a great project. He's a fascinating subject. Multi-faceted. And we got on really well. We had a great rapport and I really had fun doing the work."

Dr Rudd, meanwhile, said Mr Heimans had treated him kindly in the portrait.

And the former prime minister had a special message for readers of The Canberra Times.

"For The Canberra Times I'd say, all local Canberrans come and have a look at [the portrait] and then vote online whether you think it's super-generous towards the subject, that is, makes me look better than I am, or just generous towards the subject, makes me look somewhat better than I am," he said.

While that's a joke, the portrait is now on public display at Parliament House.