The painting of Mrs. Kennedy caused a stir even before it was unveiled at the White House in February 1971.... Not even Ms. Cheshire knew, however, that Mrs. Kennedy (by then known as Mrs. Onassis) and her children had made a secret visit to the White House to see the paintings, their first since President Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963. When some critics complained that the painting was gloomy and unheroic, Mr. Shikler had an answer. "I said the hell with it", he told People magazine in 1981. "Mrs. Kennedy loved the idea, I loved the idea, and it certainly stands out among all those God-forsaken ostage-stamp portraits hanging in the White House". (http://www.tuttartpitturasculturapoesiamusica.com/2015/12/Aaron-Shikler.html)