A portrait of Cressida Dick has been unveiled to mark the centenary of women in the Met.

It was captured by artist Frances Bell, with the oil painting of the first female commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service taking its place at the Met's training school in Hendon.

It sits alongside the paintings of 26 former Commissioners. They include Sir Cecil Frederick Nevil Macready, who on 22 November 1918, officially announced that the Met would have female police officers for the first time.

Commissioner Cressida Dick felt the strength of feeling for the portrait had “surprised” her and understood its importance.

She said: “It symbolises the nature of the current Met and maybe important in inspiring the next generation of Met people.

“I am very grateful to the artist, Frances Bell, who put me at great ease and made the whole process an interesting and surprisingly enjoyable one.”

Taking more than 20 hours to paint in Frances Bell’s studio, the portrait depicts the Commissioner against the back-drop of a map of London.

It symbolises her long policing career in London and personal affinity with the Capital.

Frances Bell, who this year exhibited at the prestigious Royal Society of Portrait Painters Portrait competition, said he was "thrilled" to paint the commissioner.

She said: “It’s such a fine occasion to mark with an artwork, as portraits can represent historic moments so well.

“One hundred years of women in our police, and a female Commissioner on this anniversary is the kind of coincidence a painter can appreciate.”