PEEKSKILL - Andrew Lattimore has painted many portraits in his career, but former Gov. George Pataki is the closest to a celebrity to grace his canvas.

Lattimore painted Pataki's official portrait for permanent installation in the state Capitol, a serious task for even an experienced artist.

"I went into this expecting pressure for the simple reason that it is an official portrait, so obviously it had to be done well," said Lattimore, once a mainstay of Peekskill's artist community who now lives in Cornwall, Orange County. "As it turned out, it was the easiest portrait I have ever done."

The former governor was agreeable to any suggestion, Lattimore said. Still, the painting took about 14 months to complete and cost a reported $50,000. It was unveiled in July in New York City and heads to Albany later this year. Currently, it is hanging in the Governor George E. Pataki Leadership and Learning Center in Peekskill.

Pataki, who was born and raised in Peekskill and was mayor from 1982 to 1984, remains a popular figure among locals.

Wendie Garber, whose Flat Iron Gallery a few blocks away regularly exhibits Lattimore's work, said it is great for Peekskill to host the portrait for a while.

"It's a thrill for the whole community," Garber said.

Resident Diane Wisla agreed.

"I'd love to go see it myself because I always admired him as a governor and a leader of our state," Wisla said. "Anything he did publicly was always done with grace and dignity and respect. He gave New York a good face."

Lattimore, 51, first met Pataki in 1994. The governor approached him about the portrait a decade later after admiring one of his Hudson River landscapes.

Lattimore said he wanted the painting to be brighter than those that preceded it. Pataki's is the first governor's portrait to be painted against an outdoor backdrop, in this case a Hudson River vista. He is standing and looking to his left, his face lit by the sun but with much of his body standing in the shadow of the porch of his home.

Only 37 of the state's 53 former governors have their portrait hanging in the Capitol.

Many are on display elsewhere but two are notably missing, that of 19th-century governor Nathaniel Pitcher, of whom no known portrait exists, and Mario Cuomo, who has refused without explanation to sit for a portrait. (Eliot Spitzer, who resigned amid scandal last year, is expected to have a portrait done.)

That makes Pataki's the first to be unveiled in a quarter-century, since Hugh Carey's.

Lattimore said he would be anxious about the portrait's safety until it's permanently mounted. While he is glad the city can host it for a time, he is just as happy to help bring attention to the Pataki center, which aims to teach public service to young people.

"I'm more interested in people getting in there for the center itself," he said. "If my painting can play a role in that, great."

Reach Brian Howard at bjhoward@lohud.com or 914-666-6177.