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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.

Search / charles roberts

General information

Charles (still from video) by Amiel Courtin-Wilson

The Winner of the Digital Portraiture Award 2016 is...

2 December 2016

Archived media releases 2016

The winner of the Digital Portraiture Award 2016 has been announced. Congratulations to Amiel Courtin-Wilson for his submission titled Charles.

Dr Claire Roberts

References

General content

About the exhibition curator Claire Roberts, and writers Eugene Wang and Zhang Letian.

Mary Chomley

The Cosmopolitans

Now on display in Gallery Two

General content

Spanning the 1880s to the 1930s, this collection display celebrates the innovations in art – and life – introduced by the generation of Australians who travelled to London and Paris for experience and inspiration in the decades either side of 1900.

Rachel Ward and Bryan Brown

Australian Love Stories

Archived media releases 2021

A major new exhibition celebrating love in all its guises. Opening 20 March 2021.

Adut, The Studio Series, 2015 Atong Atem

Icons and Identities

General content

It’s often thought that foremost among portraiture’s many functions is the documentation of individuals who are celebrated and familiar, or who best exemplify the temper and identity of a certain place at a certain time.

spaces between movement and stillness

Harriet Schwarzrock: spaces between movement and stillness

10 February 2021

Archived media releases 2021

To celebrate the new exhibition Australian Love Stories, renowned Australian glass artist Harriet Schwarzrock has been commissioned to make a large-scale installation reflecting on the role the heart plays as our emotional centre.

The Brougham

The Brougham

A philosopher-style of beard – thick and lengthy; a greyer, hence wiser version of the Burke; and suited to older men who saw themselves as sagacious or statesmanlike.

HM Queen Elizabeth II

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (1926–2022)

9 September 2022

The National Portrait Gallery is deeply saddened by the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning monarch in British history. Throughout her 70-year reign, Her Majesty represented graciousness, humanity and stability during times of enormous social change.

The Lambert

The Lambert

Barbering manuals of the turn of the century might describe this style as a ‘Van Dyck’, named after the Dutch painter Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641) who is known to have adopted this look.

The family

Literary lovers’ life liaison

Desire drives forbidden love

Mirka and Philippe - 9 Collins Street

New Australians bring creative wealth

Nearest & Dearest

Melbourne’s iconic culture-shapers

Beadle, Winchester, 1823 by John Dempsey

Beadles, bellmen and bumbles

General content

For Dempsey’s people their occasional encounters with state power would have been largely through the local parish, which administered the ‘Old Poor Law’.

George and Jemima Billet with family

In the most correct style

Nearest & Dearest

Desirable outcomes, undesirable origins

Judith Wright with Barbara Blackman

Friendship’s rhyme and reason

Nearest & Dearest

Poetic trio

Thomas Woolner

The 1850s to the 1880s

Mo and beard timeline

The restrained and cultivated facial hair fashions evident through the first decades of the 1800s were on the wane by the middle of the century, when hirsute faces became mainstream.

Maryan, 2010 by Rod McNicol

Rod McNicol

Archived media releases 2015

Australian photographer Rod McNicol has consistently analysed the passing of time through the evidence of the photographic portrait. At once confronting and tender, McNicol’s portrait photographs are bold and intimate.

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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