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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.

Ngalim-Ngalimbooroo Ngagenybe

Storied portrait

About Face article

Emily Casey takes in Shirley Purdie’s remarkable self-portrait, Ngalim-Ngalimbooroo Ngagenybe.

The National Portrait Gallery's 20th birthday party

The National Portrait Gallery's 20th Anniversary

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Last month we marked the twentieth anniversary of the formal establishment of the National Portrait Gallery, the tenth of the opening of our signature building, and the fifth of our having become a statutory authority under Commonwealth legislation.

Mary, Queen of Scots by unknown artist, National Portrait Gallery of London

Portrait dendrochronology

About Face article

Angus's latest Trumbology is accompanied by the following caveat: 'This one is reeeeeeally geeky.'

Luke and Nacoya, 2016 by Daniel Sponiar

The National Photographic Portrait Prize turns ten

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It is now a little more than 178 years since the French Academy of Sciences was made aware of the invention of the daguerreotype process.

Photograph from Eye to I series, 2022 David Lindesay

A portrait of the artist by the artist

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Rowan McGinness asks: when is a self portrait not a self portrait?

Death mask of George Melville courtesy of National Trust of Australia (Victoria), Old Melbourne Gaol Collection

A colourful story from Sideshow Alley

Infamy, the macabre & the portrait
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From infamous bushranger to oyster shop display, curator Jo Gilmour explores the life of George Melville.

Hugh 2015, by Warwick Baker

Friends

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Warwick Baker’s photos of his friends are intimate. They hold a stillness that allows their subjects to be at ease.

Portrait of Captain James Cook RN

Robert Oatley AO

1928–2016
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The National Portrait Gallery mourns the loss of one our most generous benefactors, Robert Oatley AO.

Ellen Stirling

Very fine and very like

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When did notions of very fine and very like become separate qualities of a portrait? And what happens to 'very like' in the age of photographic portraiture?

Betty Churcher

Betty Churcher

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The National Portrait Gallery mourns the loss of our colleague and friend Betty Churcher, AO.

Portrait of HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark

Tribute: Mary Isabel Murphy

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The Chairman, Board, Director and all the staff of the National Portrait Gallery mourn the loss of our Benefactor, Mary Isabel Murphy.

Latai Taumoepeau and Justin Shoulder, 2014, printed, augmented 2023 from the series No Human Being Is Illegal (in all our glory) 2014–18 Deborah Kelly

A stitch in time: Participating in portraiture

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Author and embroidery enthusiast Emma Batchelor shares her experience of joining a sewing circle with Portrait23: Identity artist Deborah Kelly.

Ursula Hoff

Remembering Ursula

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I first knew Dr. Hoff when in 1986, long after retiring from the National Gallery of Victoria, she taught a graduate seminar on Rembrandt.

Professor Mandyam Srinivasan

Brains trust

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Eminent doctors and scientists have for more than a century consistently caused our nation to punch far above her weight.

Self-portrait with guardian spirits, 2009-2010 Kate Beynon

Kate Beynon’s transcultural life and art

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Phoebe Lupton profiles artist Kate Beynon, whose contemplative self portrait features in Archie 100: A Century of the Archibald Prize.

Angus Trumble with Self portrait at easel by Fred Williams

Autumn in Canberra

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In Persuasion (1818), a long walk on a fine autumn day affords Anne Elliot an opportunity to ruminate wistfully and at great length upon declining happiness, youth and hope.

© National Portrait Gallery 2025
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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