In her letter to Stokes, the miner said she had been first alerted to the portraits by a friend, and urged the National Gallery to “plan differently ...” The rest of the letter has been blacked out.

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Separately in May, Canberra’s National Portrait Gallery revealed to Senate estimates it had been holding a painting of Rinehart that she was willing to donate. Gallery director Bree Pickering revealed that the institution had yet to agree on instructions relating to the manner of its display.

The idea of the gift had followed a 2018 conversation between the gallery and the West Australian artist, who is married to Hancock Prospecting chief executive Garry Korte, the new documents reveal.

The portrait, Gina Rinehart, was selected by Rinehart, who also communicated her preferred framing.

In June 2019, the excited board of the portrait gallery notified Rinehart they had accepted her gift, saying: “The work will make a fabulous donation to our collection, and we are most grateful to you for your generosity in making this gift and for thinking of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia.”

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The gallery offered to pay all transportation costs. A biography of Rinehart lauding her achievements and a much smaller reference to the painter was also presented.

But the gift became bogged down in questions over specifics. Rinehart’s legal counsel subsequently sought “particular changes” to the deed of donation and letter of agreement governing acquisitions. By October 2021 Helen Nugent, who was gallery chair until that same year, indicated that revisions had been made and hoped they would be “found acceptable”.

Almost a year later the gallery wrote back to Rinehart’s representatives in an attempt to “finalise the matter”.

“If Mrs Rinehart is ultimately not comfortable with the strictures inherent in our collecting parameters, we would of course completely understand,” the gallery said.

“We await your advice on the matter; if this is indeed found to be the case, we will undertake to safely return the painting to Mrs Rinehart’s keeping.”

A spokesperson for the gallery said the Rinehart portrait has not been formally accessioned into the National Portrait Gallery collection but was still on its premises.

“Several discussions took place between 2019 and 2022 to resolve the Deed of Donation, however the matter has not been finalised,” they said.

Rinehart’s company, Hancock Prospecting, has been contacted for comment.