Search / marc hunter

Marc Besen AC

Marcus (Marc) Besen AC (1923–2023), philanthropist and arts benefactor, founded the Besen Family Foundation with his wife Eva Besen AO.

1 portrait in the collection

Isaiah, arms and legs folded, 2015

by Marc Bowden

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, hand coloured on paper

Marc Newson, 1990

Jim Rolon

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Bill Hunter

Bill Hunter (1940-2011), actor, spent five decades on Australian television and cinema screens.

1 portrait in the collection

Philip Hunter

Philip Hunter (1958-2017), painter, studied art in Melbourne before holding his first solo exhibition there in 1982.

1 portrait in the collection

Ruby Hunter

Ruby Hunter (1955-2010), singer/songwriter, was a Ngarrindjeri/ Kukatha/ Pitjantjatjara woman from South Australia.

1 portrait in the collection

Robert Hunter

Robert Hunter (1947-2014), painter, trained at Preston Technical College and RMIT from 1964 to 1967, and was deeply impressed by the work of American abstractionist Ad Reinhardt in Melbourne in 1967.

1 portrait in the collection

Suzie Petyarre Hunter

Suzie Petyarre (also spelt Pitjara) Hunter (b. c. 1966), painter, is an Alyawarre woman who lives a traditional life in the bush at Irrultja, Utopia.

1 portrait in the collection

Captain John Hunter

John Hunter (1737-1821), naval officer and governor, came to Sydney as second captain of the Sirius, the flagship of the First Fleet.

3 portraits in the collection

Ruby Hunter, 1996 (printed 2012)

Jacqueline Mitelman

Purchased 2012

Philip Hunter, 2004

Julian Kingma

Portrait, charcoal on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2006

Bill Hunter, 1974

Janet Dawson

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Captain John Hunter, Governor New South Wales, 1801

William Ridley

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Ted and Gina Gregg 2012

Captain John Hunter, 1801

William Ridley

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Suzie Petyarre, 1994

Greg Weight

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Goods and chattels

Daniel Orme after Robert Dighton

I have been reading systematically through the ads in the earliest issues of the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, such a rich vein of information about certain aspects of daily life in Regency Sydney.

Portrait of Captain John Hunter, 1792

Portrait, stipple engraving on paper

Purchased with funds provided by Ross A Field 2008

Part of the crew of His Majesty's Ship Guardian endeavouring to escape in the boats

South-bound and down

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2013

Joanna Gilmour recounts the story of ill-fated sea voyages in the early stages of the Antipodean colony.

Marc Besen AC and Eva Besen AO
Featuring a favourite painting, Fred Williams ‘Wild Dog Creek’ 1977, 2020

Raelene Sharp

Portrait, oil on linen

Commissioned with funds provided by Nigel Satterley AM and Denise Satterley 2020

Robert Hunter, July 1978, 1978 (printed 2012)

Robert Rooney

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

The artist Marc Clark, 2019

Russell Shakespeare

Nick Cave by Howard Arkley

Portrait story

An interview with graffiti artist Marc de Jong about the art of Howard Arkley.

The Hunter

Clean shaven

Towards the end of the eighteenth century, ideas about equality and liberty had begun to filter through to fashion.

The Lino Hunter, 2015

by Janet Tavener

Semi self portrait, Hunter Valley, 1992 (printed 2000)

David Moore

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
The series 'David Moore: From Face to Face' was acquired as a gift of the artist and with financial assistance from Timothy Fairfax AC and L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2001

Frog Hunter, Damien Wurrkidj, 2011

by Matthew Abbott

Richard Walsh, Editor OZ magazine at the Hunter Street offices

Richard Walsh, Editor OZ magazine at the Hunter Street offices, c. 1966 (printed 2021)

Robert McFarlane

Purchased with funds provided by Tim Bednall 2021

Miners, Pacific Colliery, Hunter Valley, New South Wales

Miners, Pacific Colliery, Hunter Valley, New South Wales, c. 1949 (printed 2000)

David Moore

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
The series 'David Moore: From Face to Face' was acquired as a gift of the artist and with financial assistance from Timothy Fairfax AC and L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2001.

Murray Tyrrell AM

Murray Tyrrell AM (1921-2000) was a winemaker. Born in the Hunter Valley, Tyrrell served in the Pacific during World War II and became a cattle trader when he was repatriated.

1 portrait in the collection

Eva Besen AO

Eva Besen AO (1928–2021), philanthropist and arts benefactor, founded the Besen Family Foundation with her husband Marc Besen AC.

1 portrait in the collection

Steve Irwin

The Captain and The Hunter

Steve Irwin (1962-2006) achieved international fame as the 'Crocodile Hunter'.

1 portrait in the collection

Clean shaven

Style guide

Munnan Studios

Munnan Studios operated from premises in Hunter Street, Sydney, from around 1915.

1 portrait in the collection

William Ridley

William Ridley, stipple engraver, worked as an illustrator for a variety of magazines.

5 portraits in the collection

Steve Irwin, 2005

Robin Sellick

Previous exhibition, 2006

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2006

Famous

Karin Catt Portraits

Australian photographer Karin Catt has photographed world leaders, a host of rock stars and Oscar-winning compatriots Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, and Cate Blanchett.

Archie Roach AC

Archie Roach AC (1956–2022), singer/songwriter and storyteller, has been described as the voice of the Stolen Generations.

2 portraits in the collection

Archie Roach, 1992 (printed 2010)

Bill McAuley

Purchased 2010

Maurice Felton

Previous exhibition, 2020

Maurice Appleby Felton (1803-1842) arrived in Sydney with his wife and four children in late 1839 as surgeon to the immigrant ship the Royal Admiral.

3 portraits in the collection

Darling Portrait Prize 2020

The Darling Prize is a new biennial prize for Australian portrait painters, painting Australian sitters. The winner receives a cash prize of $75,000.

Gift of the Windeyer family 2009

Archie Roach, 2008

Peter Hudson

Portrait, oil on canvas laid on composition board

Gift of the artist 2010. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Wes Walters

Wes Walters (1928-2014), painter, studied architecture in Geelong and art at the Ballarat School of Mines before embarking on a successful career as a freelance commercial artist in 1950.

3 portraits in the collection

Sam Jinks

The portrait of Patrick White by Brett Whiteley

Sam Jinks developed a talent for drawing and constructing his ideas alongside his father, a Melbourne cabinetmaker.

2 portraits in the collection

Patrick White at Centennial Park, 1979–1980

White Whiteley

Previous exhibition, 2012

Eleven works by Brett Whiteley, centred around his scintillating 'Patrick White at Centennial Park 1979-1980'.

Crikey!

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2006

Robin Sellick captured a rare moment of quietude from the late conservation star Steve Irwin.

Charles Windeyer, 1830s

Portrait, watercolour on paper

Gift of the Windeyer family 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Bruce Pollard

Bruce Pollard (b. 1936), gallerist, established the Pinocotheca Gallery in a St Kilda mansion in 1967, and relocated it to an old hat factory in Richmond in 1970.

1 portrait in the collection

Professor Kelvin Kong AM

Kelvin Kong AM is a Worimi doctor who grew up in Port Stephens, New South Wales.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Zelman Cowen, 2000

Wes Walters

Portrait, oil on canvas

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Marc Besen AO and Dr Joseph Brown AO OBE 2000

Ann Mary Windeyer

Ann Mary Windeyer (née Rudd, c. 1783–1865) arrived in Sydney in 1828 with her husband Charles Windeyer (1780–1855) and nine of their ten children.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Windeyer

Charles Windeyer (1780-1855), magistrate, emigrated to Australia in 1828, having worked as a journalist, publisher and parliamentary reporter in London.

2 portraits in the collection

Philip Gidley King

Philip Gidley King (1758-1808), naval officer and governor, joined the navy in late 1770 and served in the East Indies and American waters.

1 portrait in the collection

Murray Tyrrell, 1978 (printed 2003)

Jon Lewis

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003

Study for portrait of Helen Garner, 2003

Portrait, charcoal on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2007

Maurice O'Shea

Previous exhibition, 2001

Maurice O'Shea (1897-1956) is remembered as a key figure in the formation of the modern Australian wine industry.

1 portrait in the collection

Nolan Heads

Nolan Heads will focus on the portraiture of one of Australia's most original painters and one of the few to have achieved an international reputation

Study for portrait of Helen Garner, 2003

Portrait, pastel over digital print on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Phillip Gudthaykudthay

NPPP 2012 learning resource

Philip Gudthaykudthay (b. 1935) Liyagalawumirr (Yolgnu) bark painter, worked as a young man as a stockman, fencer and crocodile hunter around Milingimbi and Ramingining.

1 portrait in the collection

Andrew Campbell

An interview with the photographer.

Isabella Louisa Parry, c. 1826

Portrait, watercolour on ivory

Purchased 2014

John Schank

John Schank (1740–1823), naval officer, joined the Royal Navy at age 17, having served in the merchant service as a boy.

1 portrait in the collection

Maurice O'Shea, 1951 (printed 2003)

Max Dupain OBE

Purchased 2005

Patrick White with Tom Jones, 1956

Axel Poignant

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003

Study (d) for portrait of Helen Garner, 2003

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of J Sages Family Trust 2009
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Study (c) for portrait of Helen Garner, 2003

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of J Sages Family Trust 2009
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Study (b) for portrait of Helen Garner, 2003

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of J Sages Family Trust 2009
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Study (a) for portrait of Helen Garner, 2003

William Skelton after J. Wright

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of J Sages Family Trust 2009
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Lieutenant King, 1789

Purchased 2010

John Shortland

Portrait, woodcut on paper

John Shortland (1739-1803), naval officer, was a member of a family of which six members were associated with the colonisation of Australia and New Zealand.

1 portrait in the collection

Patrick White, 1990

Rick Amor

Gift of the artist 2005. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

David Collins Esq, 1804

Anthony Cardon after John T. Barber

Portrait, stipple engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

John Williams AO OBE

John Williams AO OBE, (b. 1941), guitar virtuoso, had his first guitar lessons from his father, and from the age of eleven attended summer schools with the Spanish maestro Andrés Segovia in Italy.

1 portrait in the collection

Patrick White, 1987

Max Dupain OBE

Portrait, watercolour and collage on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

An evening at Yarra Cottage, Port Stephens

An evening at Yarra Cottage, Port Stephens, 1857

Maria Brownrigg

Purchased 2017

William Francis King, 'The Flying Pieman'

William Francis King, 'The Flying Pieman', c. 1869

John Davis

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite

Gift of the family of FW Macpherson 2010

Richard Windeyer, c. 1828

Charles Richard Bone

Portrait, watercolour on ivory in a gold pendant with a lock of hair and gold thread

Gift of the Windeyer family 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

John Williams, 2000 (printed 2022)

Polly Borland

Portrait, painted wood, denim, wool, plastic and candles

Purchased 2022

Icons Syndicate

Lists alphabetically

Honour board

The Legend of Ruby and Archie

Devotion

A bond in song

Two gentlemen celebrating a birthday (Frank Watters and Geoffrey Legge), 1974

Bob Jenyns

Gift of Frank Watters OAM 2018. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Jean-François de Galaup La Perouse

Portrait, oil on composition board

Jean-François de Galaup la Pérouse, Comte de la Pérouse (1741-1788), navigator, joined the French navy as a boy, rising to the rank of captain and serving with distinction and humanity in campaigns against the English in Hudson Bay in 1782.

4 portraits in the collection

Self portrait, 1988

Sidney Nolan

Gift of Hon RL Hunter KC 2006. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Ann Mary Windeyer, 1847

G Ziegler

Portrait, pastel and gouache on paper laid down on backing sheet

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Joanna Russell Maher (née Windeyer) 2018

Peter Carey in Kelly country, 2000

Bruce Armstrong

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint on board

Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001

Julian Kingma

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2006

Julian Kingma (b. 1968), photographer, began his career in 1988 as a cadet for the Herald newspaper in Melbourne, and later worked for the Sunday Age as Head Features Photographer.

11 portraits in the collection

9 lives of Karin Catt

Australian photographer Karin Catt has shot across the spectrum of celebrity, her subjects including rock stars, world leaders and actors.

La Perouse, 1830s

Thomas Woolnoth, William Mackenzie, Glasgow, Edinburgh, London & New York

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Ted and Gina Gregg 2012

Jane Windeyer

Portrait, inkjet print on rag paper

Jane Windeyer (1865–1950) was the second eldest daughter of politician and judge Sir William Charles Windeyer (1834–1897) and his wife, Mary (née Bolton, 1837–1912), a leading campaigner for women’s rights.

2 portraits in the collection

Phillip Gudthaykudthay, 1986

Martin van der Wal

Purchased 2005

Washington preview

Magazine article by Lauretta Morton, 2005

Ron Ramsey, former Director of Cultural Relations at the Embassy of Australia interviewed NPG Washington Director, Marc Pachter, about their building renovations.

Richard Windeyer

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on studio mount

Richard Windeyer (1806-1847), journalist, barrister and politician, was the eldest of the ten children born to Charles Windeyer and his wife Ann Mary and remained in England when the rest of his family went to New South Wales.

3 portraits in the collection

Mary Windeyer, c. 1891

Freeman Brothers

Gift of J.B. Windeyer 2018

Bill Neidjie OAM

Bill Neidjie OAM (c. 1913-2002), a Gagadju man, was the traditional custodian of the Kakadu area of the Northern Territory and spent most of his childhood in this region.

1 portrait in the collection

Jane Campion DNZM

Jane Campion DNZM (b. 1954), director, producer and screenwriter, is the first woman to win the Palme d'Or at Cannes and the second woman to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, both for her acclaimed film The Piano (1993).

1 portrait in the collection

Richard Rouse

Richard Rouse (1774-1852), grazier and landowner, came to New South Wales in 1801 as a free settler with his wife Elizabeth (née Adams, 1772-1849) and the first two of their nine children.

1 portrait in the collection

Glenn Murcutt, 1980 (printed 2017)

Robert McFarlane

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2017

Elizabeth Rouse

Elizabeth Rouse (née Adams, 1772–1849), colonial spouse, arrived in New South Wales as a free settler in 1801 with her husband, Richard Rouse (1774–1852) and their first two children, one of whom had been born on the voyage out.

1 portrait in the collection

Mary Windeyer on the verandah at Tomago, NSW

Mary Windeyer on the verandah at Tomago, NSW, c. 1880s

Portrait, glass plate negative

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Windeyer family 2012

Imelda Roche AO

Portrait, carte de visite photograph

Imelda Roche AO (b. 1934), with husband Bill, introduced the Nutri-Metics skin care range to Australia in 1968.

1 portrait in the collection

Jane Windeyer, n.d.

Madame Praeger

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Windeyer family 2012

Yango Mungo ye Yango of Bathurst's Plains

Yango Mungo ye Yango of Bathurst's Plains, 1824

Moses Griffith after John Lewin

Portrait, copper engraving, hand coloured on paper

Purchased 2011

Patrick White

Patrick White (1912–1990), acknowledged as Australia’s pre-eminent novelist of the 20th century, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1973 for The Eye of the Storm, ‘for an epic and psychological narrative art which has introduced a new continent into literature’.

7 portraits in the collection

Patrick White, Castle Hill, Sydney, 1963 (printed 2000)

David Moore

The series 'David Moore: From Face to Face' was acquired as a gift of the artist and with financial assistance from Timothy Fairfax AC and L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2001

Glenn Murcutt AO

Glenn Murcutt AO (b. 1936), architect, received the world's highest architectural honour when he was awarded the Pritzker Prize in April 2002.

4 portraits in the collection

Bill Neidjie, 2000 (printed 2008)

Mark Lang

Previous exhibition, 2010

Gift of the artist 2008

Jenny Sages

Paths to Portraiture

The exhibition Sages examines the process of portrait making through four large-scale portraits of women by Jenny Sages, paired with intimate preparatory drawings.

Sarah Engledow and Acorn, 2016 by Mark Mohell

Explore The Popular Pet Show

The artists and their furry friends

General content

Curator, Sarah Engledow, introduces the artists and the animals in The Popular Pet Show.

Imelda Roche, 2003

Paul Newton

Portrait, oil on canvas

Commissioned 2003

Maria Windeyer, c. 1865-1868

Freeman Brothers after Edwin Dalton

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite on brown paper studio folder

Gift of J.B. Windeyer 2018

Tom LeGarde

Tom LeGarde (1931–2021) and Ted LeGarde (1931–2018), 'The LeGarde Twins', were early pioneers of country music.

1 portrait in the collection

Wurati

Wurati (active 1830s, d. 1842), was a Nuennone man from Bruny Island, a skilled hunter, boat builder and renowned storyteller who spoke five dialects.

2 portraits in the collection

Ted LeGarde

Ted LeGarde (1931–2018) and Tom LeGarde (1931–2021), ‘The LeGarde Twins’, were early pioneers of country music.

1 portrait in the collection

Aden Ridgeway & pallbearers entering Sydney Town Hall, State Funeral for Kwementyaye Perkins AO, 25th October 2000

Aden Ridgeway & pallbearers entering Sydney Town Hall, State Funeral for Kwementyaye Perkins AO, 25th October 2000, 2000

Mervyn Bishop

Purchased 2001

Mary Windeyer, 1850s

Portrait, watercolour and gouache on ivory

Gift of the Windeyer family 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Sir James Fergusson

Sir James Fergusson (1832–1907), governor, was educated at Rugby School and was still a student there when he succeeded his father as Baronet of Kilkerran in 1849.

1 portrait in the collection

Mary Windeyer

Mary Windeyer (née Bolton, 1837-1912), women's rights campaigner, was one of the nine children of Robert Thorley Bolton, a clergyman who emigrated to New South Wales in 1839.

3 portraits in the collection

Judith Wright

Portrait, lithograph on paper

Judith Wright (1915–2000), poet, conservationist and Aboriginal land rights campaigner, was born at Thalgaroch Station, near Armidale, NSW, into a pastoralist family whose origins go back to the first settlement in the Hunter Valley in the 1820s.

3 portraits in the collection

Piper, the native who accompanied Major Mitchell in his expedition to the interior

Piper, the native who accompanied Major Mitchell in his expedition to the interior, c. 1836

William Fernyhough

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

Henry Searle

Henry Searle (1886–1889), a sculler known as the ‘Clarence River Comet’, took up rowing as a boy as a means of getting himself and his siblings to and from school.

1 portrait in the collection

Marilyn, Marlene and Kelvin Kong, c. 2000

Penny Tweedie

Previous exhibition, 2002

Gift of the artist 2004

Headspace 3

Being Me

The self-portrait enables students to explore emerging and changing aspects of their own identity, their sense of self, their place in the world, their experience of being human

William King

William Francis King (1807-1873), aka 'The Flying Pieman', accomplished a series of bizarre athletic feats during the 1840s.

1 portrait in the collection

Philippe Mora

Philippe Mora (b. 1949), filmmaker, artist and writer, is the eldest son of artist Mirka Mora and restauranteur and gallery owner Georges Mora.

1 portrait in the collection

TW Edgeworth David and Vilhjalmur Stefansson

Sir Tannatt William Edgeworth David KBE

Sir Tannatt William Edgeworth David KBE (1858-1934) was an eminent geologist.

2 portraits in the collection

Mr Robert Oatley AO

Robert Oatley AO (1928–2016), businessman, was one of Australia’s most successful wine industry figures.

Richard Rouse (copy of drawing by William Griffith), c. 1847

Portrait, pencil, ink and watercolour on paper

Gift of Pamela Glasson 2009
Collected by Leila Haigh (nee Rouse)

Maria Windeyer

Maria Windeyer (née Camfield, 1795–1878), landowner, emigrated to New South Wales in 1835 with her husband Richard, a barrister, and their infant son, William Charles.

2 portraits in the collection

David Clarke, 1995 (printed 2018)

Gary Ede

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2007

Purchased 2018

All there in black and white

The National Portrait Gallery acquired a beguiling silhouette group portrait by Samuel Metford, an English artist who spent periods of his working life in America.

Richard Fitzgerald

Previous exhibition, 2005

Richard Fitzgerald (1772-1840), convict, public servant and settler, spent four years of his seven-year sentence imprisoned (probably on a floating 'hulk') at Portsmouth before arriving in Sydney in 1791, along with his private assets.

1 portrait in the collection

Glossy 2

Faces, Magazines, Now

Following the success of Glossy: Faces, Magazines, Now in 1999 the National Portrait Gallery again highlights the huge array of contemporary portraiture in the pages of magazines.

John Piper

Previous exhibition, 2020

Piper (life dates unknown), also known as John Piper, was a Wiradjuri man who acted as a guide to Thomas Mitchell’s surveying expedition along the Murray and Darling Rivers into present-day Victoria in 1836.

2 portraits in the collection

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2020

The exhibition is selected from a national field of entries, reflecting the distinctive vision of Australia's aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of their subjects.

Kerry Walker, c. 1979

Stuart Campbell

Portrait, cast plaster, painted

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Estate of Stuart Campbell 2012

Woureddy [Wurati], an Aboriginal Chief of Van Diemen's Land, 1835

Benjamin Law

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

TW Edgeworth David and Vilhjalmur Stefansson, 1924

Annie May Moore

Magazine article by Jenny Sages, 2015

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Observation point

Australian artist and Archibald Prize winner, Jenny Sages reflects on her work.

The news from Washington

Magazine article by Lauretta Morton, 2006

Australia's former Cultural Attache to the USA, Ron Ramsey, describes the mood at the opening week of the revitalised American National Portrait Gallery.

Patrick White #1, 1980

William Yang

Purchased 1998

Kerry Walker AM

A Portrait of Colonial Australia

Kerry Walker AM, actor, graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1974 and made her professional stage debut in a melée in Act 1 of Romeo and Juliet with the Australian Ballet.

1 portrait in the collection

Miss Frances Samuel, 1840

Maurice Felton

Portrait, oil on canvas

Purchased 2011

Bungaree, late chief of the Broken Bay tribe, Sydney

Heads of the People

Previous exhibition, 2000

For Tom Roberts - Australia's best nineteenth-century portrait painter - neither a proto-national portrait gallery nor more popular collections of portrait heads, were sufficient public celebrations for the notables of Australian history

Elizabeth Roberts

Chefs, winemakers, providores

Elizabeth Roberts (1812–1833) was the daughter of Warwickshire-born William Roberts (1754–1819) and his wife, Jane (née Longhurst, c.

1 portrait in the collection

Masters of Fare

Previous exhibition, 2004

Masters of fare: chefs, winemakers, providores celebrates men and women who have championed the unique culinary characteristics and produce of Australia, enriching our lives with new ideas and new flavours over the past forty years.

Thomas Sutcliffe Mort and his wife Theresa

Husbands and Wives

Photographic Portraits from 19th Century Australia

Previous exhibition, 2010

'I have just been to my dressing case to take a peep at you.

The People’s Choice Awards

16 June 2020

Archived media releases 2020

The votes have been counted, and the winners of the National Portrait Gallery’s People’s Choice Awards for the Prize exhibitions are...

The Quiet Australian

Magazine article by Brian Dale, 2001

Robert Oatley talks about the repatriation of the John Webber portrait of Captain James Cook.

Elegance in exile

Portrait drawings from colonial Australia

Previous exhibition, 2012

Elegance in exile is an exhibition surveying the work of Richard Read senior, Thomas Bock, Thomas Griffiths Wainewright and Charles Rodius: four artists who, though exiled to Australia as convicts, created many of the most significant and elegant portraits of the colonial period.

Alison Rehfisch

Alison Baily Rehfisch (1900–1975) was born Alison Green in Woollahra, New South Wales, to parents who 'were very interested in painting – in all the arts: music, literature, everything'.

2 portraits in the collection

Robert Brown

Magazine article by Starr Figura, 2008

Robert Brown (1773–1858) is considered ‘the father of Australian botany’.

2 portraits in the collection

Every flap, fold and bulge

Lucian Freud's unflinching realism is on display in the first solo exhibition of his paintings and etchings at The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Time and light

In Gallery Seven

Previous exhibition, 2023

This sample of 56 photographs takes in some of the smallest photographs we own and some of the largest, some of the earliest and some of the most recent, as well as multiple photographic processes from daguerreotypes to digital media.

Australian of the Year

Inspiring a Nation

Previous exhibition, 2010

The Australian of the Year Awards have often provoked controversy about who is selected and whether their achievements are remarkable.

Sideshow Alley

Infamy, the macabre & the portrait

Previous exhibition, 2015

Death masks, post-mortem drawings and other spooky and disquieting portraits... Come and see how portraits of infamous Australians were used in the 19th century.

Australian Visit

Previous exhibition, 2006

The exhibition will include works of art from the NPG Canberra's permanent collection with some inward loans and aims to highlight the achievements of notable Australians.

Wylie

The vision of Gordon and Marilyn Darling

Wylie (c. 1824–unknown) is thought to have been born near King George’s Sound in south-west Western Australia, which would make him a Noongar man.

1 portrait in the collection

Uncommon Australians

Previous exhibition, 2015

This exhibition showcases portraits acquired through the generosity of the National Portrait Gallery’s Founding Patrons, L Gordon Darling AC CMG and Marilyn Darling AC.

Wylie, 1840-1841

Robert Neill

Portrait, steel engraving with later hand-colouring on paper

Purchased 2018

Ms Anna Burke MP, Speaker of the House of Representatives 2015 by Jude Rae

Hired guns, bounty hunters and horse whisperers

Magazine article by Jude Rae, 2016

Jude Rae contemplates the portrait commission.

Roam alone

Jon Muir, adventurer and Portrait Gallery Collection subject, really knows about isolation.

Sydney Cove medallion, 1789 by Josiah Wedgwood

The medallion

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2011

In recent years I have become fascinated by the so-called Sydney Cove Medallion (1789), a work of art that bridges the 10,000-mile gap between the newly established penal settlement at Port Jackson and the beating heart of Enlightenment England.

Portrait Donors

Listed by year

Honour board

In a good paddock

Celebrating a new painted portrait of Joseph Banks, Sarah Engledow spins a yarn of the naturalist, the first kangaroo in France and Don, a Spanish ram.

Maria Caroline Brownrigg

At first glance, this small watercolour group portrait of her two sons and four daughters by Maria Caroline Brownrigg (d. 1880) may seem prosaic, even hesitant

Talking heads