Skip to main content
Menu

The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

Charles Darwin, 1883, based on a work of 1881

John Collier

Charles Darwin (1809–1882) began his career as a scientist in 1831, when his university tutor secured him a place on the voyage of HMS Beagle, which was shortly to embark on a survey of the coast of South America. Over the five-year expedition, Darwin visited Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, the Galapagos Islands, Australia and South Africa. His experiences on the voyage and the samples that he collected provided the foundations of his controversial work on evolution, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859).

Artist John Collier was the son-in-law of Thomas Huxley, Darwin’s defender in the furore surrounding the publication of his work. Collier’s portrait, which depicts Darwin as an old man, was much admired. Darwin’s son Francis wrote in his Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (1887), ‘Many of those who knew his face most intimately, think that Mr Collier’s picture is the best of the portraits and in this judgement the sitter himself was inclined to agree’. Collier’s portrait has since become the defining image of Darwin.

National Portrait Gallery, London Given by the sitter's son, William Erasmus Darwin, 1896
© National Portrait Gallery, London

© National Portrait Gallery 2024
King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia

Phone +61 2 6102 7000
ABN: 54 74 277 1196

The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

This website comprises and contains copyrighted materials and works. Copyright in all materials and/or works comprising or contained within this website remains with the National Portrait Gallery and other copyright owners as specified.

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

The National Portrait Gallery is an Australian Government Agency