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Sir Leslie Ward, Vanity Fair Magazine

Sir Alexander Fuller-Acland-Hood Bart MP (1853-1917) was MP for West Somerset from 1892 to 1911, when he was created Lord St Audries.

1 portrait in the collection

First Conservative Whip (Sir Alexander Fuller-Acland-Hood Bart MP), 1903

Portrait, chromolithograph on paper

Gift of Ronald Walker 2002

Bart Cummings AM

James Bartholomew (Bart) Cummings OAM (1927-2015) was Australia's most successful thoroughbred racehorse trainer.

1 portrait in the collection

Bart Willoughby

Bart Willoughby (b. 1960) is a Pitjantjantjara and Mirning singer/songwriter who is one of the Stolen Generations.

2 portraits in the collection

Untitled

Steph Fuller

Portrait, type C photograph on paper

Bart Willoughby, c. 2000

Penny Tweedie

Gift of the artist 2004

Bart Willoughby (No Fixed Address) at 'The National Land Rights Action' march

Bart Willoughby (No Fixed Address) at 'The National Land Rights Action' march, 1982

Juno Gemes

Gift of the artist 2021. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Sketch for portrait of Bart Cummings, 1986

Bryan Westwood

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2002

Portrait of Deborah Vernon Hackett, c. 1905

Florence Ada Fuller

Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2005

Cherry Hood

Portrait, watercolour on paper

Cherry Hood (b. c. 1950), is an artist well known for her haunting, large-scale images of faces.

3 portraits in the collection

Marion Borgelt, 2001

Cherry Hood

Gift of Marion Borgelt 2022. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Simon Tedeschi unplugged, 2002

Cherry Hood

Portrait, watercolour on canvas

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

Margaret Seares, 2018

Cherry Hood

Portrait, watercolour on paper

Commissioned with funds provided by the Sid and Fiona Myer Family Foundation 2018

Delegates to the Constitutional Convention, Sydney 1891 from Australasia Illustrated

Alexander Forrest

Alexander Forrest was a delegate from Western Australia at the Constitutional Convention, Sydney 1891.

1 portrait in the collection

Alexander Sturrock MBE

Jock Sturrock (1915–1997) was skipper of Gretel, the first Australian American’s Cup challenger in 1962 and was named Australian of the Year for his ‘plucky attempt’, his ‘modest and manly bearing’ and the ‘sporting spirit’ in which he and his crew accepted defeat.

1 portrait in the collection

Alexander Ramsay

Alexander Ramsay CBE (1914-1978), public servant, trained and worked as a teacher before gaining his degree at the University of Adelaide in 1941.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Alexander C. Onslow

Sir Alexander Campbell Onslow (1842-1908), judge, was educated at Cambridge and practised law in England before being appointed attorney general of British Honduras in 1878.

1 portrait in the collection

Alexander Dalrymple

Alexander Dalrymple (1737-1808), hydrographer and writer, began work with the East India Company in Madras in 1752.

1 portrait in the collection

Alexander Macleay

Alexander McLeay (aka Macleay) (1767-1848), public servant and entomologist, acquired an interest in insects while working as a clerk in London.

1 portrait in the collection

Alexander Miller

Alex Miller (b. 1936), one of Australia’s most decorated and popular authors, migrated from England to Australia on his own as a sixteen-year-old.

3 portraits in the collection

Mullet magic

Leith Alexander

Keith Alexander Laught

Keith Alexander Laught (1907-1969), politician, was born in Adelaide and educated at Scotch College and then the University of Adelaide, becoming a barrister in 1929.

1 portrait in the collection

Sketch portrait of Sir Alex Onslow, 1896

Tom Roberts

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2006

Alex Miller, novelist, 2022

Hong Fu

Portrait, oil on composition board

Gift of the artist 2022

Alexander Maurice Ramsay, 1978

Robert Hannaford AM

Gift of Janet, Andrew, Kathryn and Eleanor Ramsay, daughters and son of Alexander Maurice Ramsay and Amy Jane Ramsay 2010. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Alexander 'Jock' Sturrock, 1962

Graham Thorley

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999

David Alexander Stewart Campbell

Portrait, pencil on paper

David Alexander Stewart Campbell (1898-1970), wool buyer and journal editor, undertook a woolclassing course in Sydney, worked as a jackeroo, served in the AIF in Egypt and gained further experience with wool in England before he was inducted into the wool trade in Melbourne.

1 portrait in the collection

Alex Miller, 1992

Rick Amor

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Alex Miller, 1992

Rick Amor

Portrait, pencil on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Alexander MacLeay, c. 1845

Charles Fox after Sir Thomas Lawrence

Portrait, engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Mr and Mrs Case, 1864

Alexander Fox and Co

Portrait, albumen photograph on carte de visite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Keith Laught, 1951

Geoffrey Shedley

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Mary Shedley, Mrs Christine Moriarty, Mrs Josephine Lawrence and Mrs Helen Beare 2010

Sir James Forrest, 1978

William Boissevain

Gift of Alcoa World Alumina Australia 2005. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Charles Wallace Alexander Napier Cochrane-Baillie

Charles Wallace Alexander Napier Cochrane-Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamington (1860–1940) had served four years in the House of Commons before being appointed governor of Queensland in October 1895.

1 portrait in the collection

D.A.S. Campbell (David Alexander Stewart Campbell), 1963

Sir William Dargie CBE

William Daniell after George Dance

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Dr Mary Newlinds and Sheena Simpson in memory of their father, D.A.S. Campbell, 2014

Alexander Dalrymple, 1809

Portrait, soft ground etching on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family 2012

a Traveller (2nd Baron Lamington), 1892

Sir Leslie Ward, Vanity Fair Magazine

Portrait, chromolithograph on paper

Purchased 2015

Judicial portraits

Magazine article by Leslie Moran, 2007

Leslie Moran investigates the portraits of judges in the National Portrait Gallery's collection.

'The Australian Cricketers' from The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News June 1882, page 2

Unknown artist Publisher Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News

Portrait, engravings on paper

'The Australian Cricketers' from The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News June 1882

'The Australian Cricketers' from The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News June 1882, 1882

an unknown artist

Purchased 2009

Delegates to the Constitutional Convention, Sydney 1891 from Australasia Illustrated, 1891

an unknown artist

Portrait, engraving on paper (4 sheets)

Purchased 2009

Leith Alexander

Finalist interviews

An interview with Leith Alexander, Finalist in the Living Memory National Photographic Portrait Prize.

Margaret Seares, 2018

by Cherry Hood

Commissioned with funds provided by the Sid and Fiona Myer Family Foundation 2018

Simon Griffiths

Simon Griffiths has been acclaimed in numerous publications as Australia's leading food and garden photographer.

1 portrait in the collection

Yvonne Alexander, Bar Maid, Sydney, 2022

Ingvar Kenne

Captain William Kinghorne

Previous exhibition, 2022

William Kinghorne (1796-1878) came to the colonies from Scotland some time before 1824.

1 portrait in the collection

Time and Line

In Gallery Seven

Encompassing the 1820s to the 2020s, Time and Line showcases the depth and extent of our drawing collection.

Play, 2010

by Sarah Rhodes

Ross Watson

Layered portraits from the collection

Ross Watson specialises in interpolating representations of lithe semi-naked men into copies of paintings by masters such as Vermeer, Ter Borsch, David and Bronzino.

2 portraits in the collection

Dissections

Previous exhibition, 2016

This display sets two impressive portraits from the collection into direct dialogue: Sam Jinks’ sculptural self portrait and Nick Mourtzakis’ painted portrait of David Chalmers, along with related maquette and sketches.Together they explore physical and psychological manifestations of the strata of self-hood.

Bill Hunter

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

1 portrait in the collection

Enrico Taglietti AO

Archived media releases 2016

Enrico Taglietti (1926-2019), architect, spent his early childhood in Milan, moving to Eritrea in the year leading up to World War 2.

1 portrait in the collection

Dissections: Layered portraits from the collection is now open

19 August 2016

Dissections, showcases the hyper-realist sculptural self-portrait of artist Sam Jinks, Divide, alongside the painted portrait of philosopher David Chalmers by Nick Mourtzakis, which was commissioned by the Gallery in 2011.

Enrico Taglietti, c. 1985

Edward Richards

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

A D. Colquhoun

A D (Archibald Douglas) Colquhoun studied art with his father Alexander, a Glasgow-born painter and critic living in Melbourne, and also at the NGV School and in classes with Max Meldrum.

1 portrait in the collection

Future Australian, 2009

by Robin Sellick

Johnstone O'Shannessy & Co

Sir Saul Samuel, c. 1870

Portrait, carte de visite photograph

Purchased 2014

Errol Flynn

Australia's America's Cup challengers

Errol Flynn (1909-1959), actor, was born in Hobart, where his father was a biology lecturer, and spent his childhood in Tasmania, England and Sydney.

1 portrait in the collection

A magnificent rivalry

Alexander (Jock) Sturrock and Alan Bond

Danelle Bergstrom

Previous exhibition, 2015

Danelle Bergstrom (b. 1957) was born in Sydney. She studied art and art education at the Julian Ashton school (1974-1979) and at Alexander Mackie CAE.

2 portraits in the collection

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2015

The National Photographic Portrait Prize 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.

William P. Dowling

William Paul Dowling (1824–1877) is thought to have studied art in his native Dublin before settling in London, where he worked as a draughtsman while trying to establish himself as a portraitist.

1 portrait in the collection

Irving Penn

Irving Penn trained in commercial art at the Philadelphia Museum School of Art while working as a freelance artist at Harper's Bazaar from 1937 to 1939.

1 portrait in the collection

Bassano Ltd

The Bassano studios operated from 1850, when photographer Alexander Bassano (1829-1913) opened premises in Regent Street, London.

2 portraits in the collection

John Henniker Heaton

John Henniker Heaton (1848-1914) worked as a jackaroo upon his arrival in New South Wales in 1864, but soon turned to journalism, writing for the Cumberland Mercury, Goulburn Penny Post and the Sydney based weekly the Town and Country Journal.

1 portrait in the collection

Tom Glover

English-born Thomas Ellis Glover moved to New Zealand as a child and by his early twenties was working as a cartoonist, court reporter and journalist.

10 portraits in the collection

Hon. Saul Samuel

Portrait, type C photograph on paper

The Hon Sir Saul Samuel Bart KCMG CB (1820-1900), merchant, politician, company director and landowner, was the first Jewish legislator in New South Wales and the first Jew to become a minister of the Crown.

1 portrait in the collection

Tommy Woodcock and Reckless, 1977 (printed 2010)

Bruce Postle

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by James Bain AM and Janette Bain 2010

Kylie

An Exhibition

Previous exhibition, 2005

Kylie Minogue, one of Australia's most famous cultural exports is now the subject of her own exhibition.

Avril Thomas

Avril Thomas (b. 1956), artist, was born in Malaysia and went to boarding school in Scotland and Australia.

2 portraits in the collection

A & G Taylor

Photographers Andrew Taylor and George Taylor opened their first studio in Cannon Street in east London in 1866.

1 portrait in the collection

Fay Bottrell

Magazine article by Magda Keaney, 2002

Fay Bottrell (b. 1927) textile artist and teacher, collaborated with Wessley Stacey on the book The Artist Craftsman in Australia: Aspects of Sensibility in 1972.

1 portrait in the collection

123 Faces

Magda Keaney examines the 123 Faces project by Simon Obarzanek.

Howard Florey Baron Florey of Adelaide and Marston, OM KBE FRS

Sir Howard Florey OM KBE FRS FAA (1898–1968) pioneered the development and use of antibiotics.

2 portraits in the collection

William Walford

Francis William Barnard Walford (1821–1896), businessman and landowner, was born in Hobart, the son of Barnard Walford (1801–1846), a publican and victualler; and the grandson of Barnard Walford senior (c.

1 portrait in the collection

Tania Verstak, 1962

Jozef Vissel

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Tania Verstak, 1962 (printed 2006)

Jozef Vissel

Portrait, pastel and chalk on paper laid down on cotton over Cedar strainer

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2006

Jessie Whyte, c. 1840

Thomas Bock

Purchased 2017

Russell Crowe

D F. Murphy after E P. Hardy

Russell Crowe (b. 1964), actor, was born in Wellington, New Zealand. He moved at the age of four to Australia, where his parents worked as caterers on TV and movie sets.

2 portraits in the collection

Sir John Franklin, c. 1845

Portrait, engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

John Shortland

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

Dora Byrne

Dora was the fourth child of Doretta and Stuart Alexander, her father the owner of a farming property near Albury, New South Wales.

1 portrait in the collection

The Bushranger Tragedy (from The Australasian Sketcher, 23 November 1878)

Thomas McIntyre

A police party comprising Sergeant Kennedy and Constables Lonigan, Scanlan and McIntyre was dispatched to capture the Kelly gang in 1878.

1 portrait in the collection

Dan Kelly

A police party comprising Sergeant Kennedy and Constables Lonigan, Scanlan and McIntyre was dispatched to capture the Kelly gang in 1878.

1 portrait in the collection

Greg Warburton

Greg Warburton (1952–2022) trained at Hornsby Technical College and Alexander Mackie College in the 1970s.

2 portraits in the collection

Sergeant Michael Kennedy

A police party comprising Sergeant Kennedy and Constables Lonigan, Scanlan and McIntyre was dispatched to capture the Kelly gang in 1878.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas Lonigan

A police party comprising Sergeant Kennedy and Constables Lonigan, Scanlan and McIntyre was dispatched to capture the Kelly gang in 1878.

1 portrait in the collection

Michael Scanlan

A police party comprising Sergeant Kennedy and Constables Lonigan, Scanlan and McIntyre was dispatched to capture the Kelly gang in 1878.

1 portrait in the collection

Les Murray AO

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite

Leslie Allan ‘Les’ Murray AO (1938-2019) was acknowledged during his lifetime as one of the great poets writing in English.

4 portraits in the collection

Archbishop James Goold, c. 1870

Archibald McDonald

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Sir William John Macleay

Sir William John Macleay (1820-1891), pastoralist, politician, collector and promoter of science, had just begun to study medicine in his native Scotland when family circumstances dictated his migration to New South Wales.

1 portrait in the collection

Simon Tedeschi

Simon Tedeschi (b. 1981), award-winning classical pianist, grew up in Sydney, and essentially abandoned his school lessons as an adolescent to concentrate on his piano studies with Neta Maughan.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Ian McLennan, c. 1978

Bryan Westwood

Portrait, oil on board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of BHP Billiton 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Les Murray, 1995

David Naseby

Portrait, bromide fibre print

Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001

Les Murray, 2003

Norman McBeath

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Norman McBeath 2011

Rev. Edward Puckle

Portrait, oil on composition board

The Reverend Edward Puckle (c. 1800-1898), Anglican clergyman, took holy orders in Exeter and officiated in Cornwall before sailing on the Randolph to Canterbury, NZ in 1850.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Ian Potter, 1973

Bryan Westwood

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Lady Primrose Potter 2006
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

William Johnson (1873—1948) by Percy Leason

Recognition

Percy Leason's Aboriginal Portraits

Previous exhibition, 1999

Originally conceived as an anthropological record, Percy Leason’s powerful 1934 portraits of Victorian Aboriginal people are today considered to be a highlight of 20th century Australian portraiture

Sir John Franklin, c. 1846

Theresa Walker after David D'Angers

Portrait, cast wax

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Sir John Franklin

Portrait, oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Sir John Franklin (1786-1847), Arctic explorer and governor, served under Matthew Flinders on the Investigator and later said that this experience fired his passion for exploration.

5 portraits in the collection

Fay Bottrell, 1981

David Campbell

Gift of Elizabeth Campbell-MacKenzie on behalf of the family of David Campbell 2012

Nlle. Holland Port Jackson: Sauvages des environs de Sydney: Nani, Taran, Abinghou, Broten, Timbere

Nlle. Holland Port Jackson: Sauvages des environs de Sydney: Nani, Taran, Abinghou, Broten, Timbere, 1825

Jean Coutant after Jacques Etienne Victor Arago

Portrait, line engraving on paper

Purchased 2015

Friends

Nicolas Maurin, Alexandre Sixdeniers

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

Jacques Arago, c. 1830s

Portrait, engraving on paper

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009

David Campbell

David Campbell (1952–1984) decided to become an artist while a student at Erina High on the New South Wales Central Coast.

3 portraits in the collection

Kerrie Lester

Kerrie Lester (1953–2016) became well-known as a portraitist for her playful, textured, highly coloured works that appeared regularly in the Archibald and Portia Geach exhibitions of the late 1980s and the 1990s.

6 portraits in the collection

Stan de Teliga, 1973

Vaike Liibus

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Liibus family 2015

Michael Boddy

Michael Boddy (1934–2014), writer and actor, was born in England and educated at Cambridge before arriving in Australia as a 'ten quid migrant' in 1960.

2 portraits in the collection

Alex Mitchell

Portrait, fibre-tipped pen on paper

Alexander George Mitchell (1911-1997), academic, studied English literature and language at the University of Sydney and the University of London before joining the English department of the University of Sydney, where he assumed the McCaughey Chair of Early English Literature and Language in 1947.

1 portrait in the collection

Lord Florey, c. 1966

Louis Kahan AO

Purchased 1998

The Bushranger Tragedy (from The Australasian Sketcher, 23 November 1878), 1878

an unknown artist, The Australasian Sketcher

Portrait, wood engraving on paper

Purchased 2003

Nothing's as precious as a hole in the ground

Protest!

How can we dance when our earth is turning?

Rock’s raw potency made it the ideal medium for fomenting protest. The 1970s, 80s and onwards saw calls for social and environmental justice ring out through song.

Bob Ellis

Portrait, cast bronze medallion on wood plaque

Bob Ellis (1942-2016) was a journalist, columnist, screenwriter, film director and playwright.

3 portraits in the collection

Sir Howard Florey OM KBE FRS FAA, 1985

Andor Meszaros

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Dr Ray Marginson AM 2001

Elizabeth Walford

1 portrait in the collection

Robert Hannaford AM

Robert Hannaford AM (b. 1944), a largely self-taught artist, grew up on his family farm near the small South Australian town of Riverton before working as political cartoonist for the Adelaide Advertiser from 1964 to 1967.

6 portraits in the collection

Jeffrey Samuels

Previous exhibition, 2010

Jeffrey Samuels (b. 1956), a Ngiyampaa/Ngemba painter, illustrator, designer, mixed-media artist and printmaker, is one of the Stolen Generations and seeks to affirm his Aboriginal identity and cultural heritage through his work.

2 portraits in the collection

National Youth Self Portrait Prize

NYSPP 2010

An annual event, the National Youth Self Portrait Prize seeks to encourage young people to embrace self portraiture and its expressive possibilities.

James Houston

Scoring first prize in New South Wales for Art in the 1983 HSC was a signal that a talented creative career lay ahead and this has indeed proven the case.

2 portraits in the collection

Maurice Felton

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

Self portrait

Sir Anthony van Dyck

Thomas Bock

Portrait, oil on canvas laid on composition board

Thomas Bock, artist, printmaker and photographer, is believed to have been born at Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham, in 1790.

3 portraits in the collection

John Richard Tindale, 1841

Maurice Felton

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003

Mary Tindale, 1841

Maurice Felton

Portrait, oil on canvas laid on composition board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003

George Case

Portrait, type C photograph on paper

George Case (life dates unknown) and his wife Grace Egerton (d. 1881), variety performers, made several successful tours of Australia in the 1860s and 1870s, although the precise dates of their visits are unknown.

1 portrait in the collection

Russell Crowe, 1995 (printed 2016)

Stuart Spence

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

MacKenzie family silhouette, 1846

Samuel Metford

Portrait, brush and ink, pen and ink, stencil cut-out with watercolour highlights on paper

Gift of the Estate of Nancy Wiseman 2007

Black tie or wombat: How formal should I go?

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2008

Michael Desmond discusses the portrait of Senator Neville Bonner by Robert Campbell Jnr.

Studio

Australian Painters Photographed by R. Ian Lloyd

Previous exhibition, 2007

Studio: Australian Painters Photographed by R

Copeman, gardener, Great Yarmouth by John Dempsey

Calling all family history buffs

3 July 2017

Archived media releases 2017

The National Portrait Gallery is calling on family history enthusiasts and amateur historians to tell it more about the people in its new show, Dempsey’s People: A folio of British street portraits from 1824-1844.

Caroline Jones, 1978

David Campbell

Archived media releases 2018

Gift of Elizabeth Campbell-MacKenzie on behalf of the family of David Campbell 2012

National Portrait Gallery unveils twenty new portrait commissions to celebrate twenty years

18 October 2018

The National Portrait Gallery has unveiled twenty new portrait commissions of Australian leaders and individualists as part of its twentieth birthday celebrations in a new exhibition, 20/20: Celebrating twenty years with twenty new portrait commissions.

The bright-eyed Mariner

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2008

A new colonial portrait brings a zealous captain near.

Masters of Fare

Chefs, winemakers, providores

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.

Sir Edward Wheewall Holden

Sir Edward Wheewall Holden (1885-1947), industrialist and politician, was the son of Henry Holden, industrialist and civic leader, and the grandson of James Alexander Holden, Adelaide leather and saddlery business owner.

1 portrait in the collection

Dora Byrne, 1951

Richard von Marientreu

Magazine article by Jennifer Higgie, 2022

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Estate of Leslie Walford AM 2013

Women make history

Jennifer Higgie uncovers the intriguing stories behind portraits of women by women in the National Portrait Gallery’s collection.

Miss Frances Samuel, 1840

Maurice Felton

Archived media releases 2017

Purchased 2011

Billy the match man, Liverpool, 1844 by John Dempsey

Rare Set of Watercolour Paintings on Display for the First Time

15 June 2017

A rare and enchanting collection of 52 portraits of British street people will be on display for the first time in the National Portrait Gallery’s winter show, Dempsey’s People: a folio of British street portraits 1824-1844.

Is the truth of portraiture vested exclusively in likeness?

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2006

Curator Michael Desmond introduces the exhibition Truth and Likeness, an investigation of the importance of likeness to portraiture.

William Robinson

Explore The Popular Pet Show

Unique in the world, perhaps, is a bronze sculpture that fuses the age-old human portrait bronze tradition, and the later genre of the bronze pug figurine: that’d be William Robinson’s Self-portrait with pug.

Madame Sibly, Phrenologist and Mesmerist

Madame Sibly, Phrenologist and Mesmerist, c. 1870

James E. Bray

Portrait, albumen silver carte de visite photograph

Purchased 2017

Prince William of Wales, by Mario Testino, 2003 publ. September 2003.
Credit: Mario Testino

Vanity Fair Portraits

Photographs 1913-2008

Previous exhibition, 2009

Vanity Fair Portraits traces the birth and evolution of photographic portraiture through the archives of Vanity Fair magazine.

Little John of Colchester, a poor lunatic, c.1823 by John Dempsey

Dempsey's people

The vision of Gordon and Marilyn Darling

Those of you who are active in social media circles may be aware that through the past week I have unleashed a blitz on Facebook and Instagram in connection with our new winter exhibition Dempsey’s People: A Folio of British Street Portraits, 1824−1844.

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.

Missing Persons

Thomas Woolner in Australia

Desperately seeking Woolner medallions

John Flaus

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2009

John Flaus (b. 1934) is an Australian broadcaster, actor, script editor and lecturer, known for Mary and Max (2009), Trust Frank (2020) and Tracks (2013).

1 portrait in the collection

Penn on paper

Michael Desmond discusses Irving Penn's photographic portrait of Nicole Kidman.

Unboxed

Magazine article by Sandra Bruce, 2022

Sandra Bruce explores a new acquisition that has within it a story of interconnectivities in the Australian art world.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2022

Previous exhibition, 2022

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.

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.

Swimming every day

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2015

National Photographic Portrait Prize judge Christopher Chapman connects this year’s entries to iconic contemporary american photographers.

Swimming every day

NPPP 2015 exhibition essay

Photographic Portraits from 19th Century Australia

Dr Christopher Chapman, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2015 Prize.

Thomas Sutcliffe Mort and his wife Theresa

Husbands and Wives

Previous exhibition, 2010

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

Her Excellency Marjorie Jackson-Nelson AC CVO MBE

Spikes: then and now

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2006

As part of its ongoing program of commissions of portraits of prominent Australians, the National Portrait Gallery has unveiled a portrait of Her Excellency Marjorie Jackson-Nelson by South Australian artist Avril Thomas.

2022 Annual Appeal

Annual Appeal

In 2022 the Annual Appeal was focussed on Mayatjara by Robert Fielding, a series of 24 photographs of Elders of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara community.

Painter John Brack with Professor Alex Mitchell and Sir Garfield Barwick, c. 1977

Jozef Vissel

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2006

Gift of the Jozef Vissel 2015

Promise Fulfilled

The life and achievements of Sir Edward Holden, who is represented in the portrait collection by a bust created by Leslie Bowles.

Reflections on castles

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2004

Andrew Sayers describes the unique characteristics of the international band of portrait galleries.

Portrait of Truganini, daughter of the Chief of Bruny Island, Van Diemens Land, c. 1835

Black and white history

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2009

English artist Benjamin Duterrau took up the cause of the Indigenous peoples of Tasmania with his detailed and sympathetic renderings.

It's a Mora!

Magazine article by Tedi Bills, 2016

Select extracts from Mirka Mora's autobiography, Wicked but Virtuous, provide rich accompaniment to recent Gallery acquisitions.

Annual Appeal

Listed by year

Honour board

Thrown together

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2009

Shipmates for years, James Cook and Joseph Banks each kept a journal but neither man shed light on their relationship.

Sir Thomas Gore-Browne, 1864

J Walch & Sons

Portrait, tinted lithograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Chet Baker, singer, New York City, January 16, 1986 by Richard Avedon

The existential lens

Magazine article by Stephen Zagala, 2013

Stephen Zagala discusses Richard Avedon’s work from an Australian perspective.

Poets' Portraits

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2005

The Portrait Gallery's paintings of two poets, Les Murray and Peter Porter, demonstrate two very different artists' responses to the challenge of representing more than usually sensitive and imaginative men.

Earth to earth

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2013

Dr Sarah Engledow discusses the recent gift of works by David Campbell.

Expect the unexpected

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2019

Joanna Gilmour revels in accidental artist Charles Rodius’ nineteenth century renderings of Indigenous peoples.

The Window Seat, 1907 by Frances Hodgkins

Kiwi magpie

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2018

Penelope Grist finds inspiration in pioneering New Zealand artist, Frances Hodgkins.

Australians in Hollywood

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2003

The exhibition Australians in Hollywood celebrated the achievements of Australians in the highly competitive American film industry.

More cash than dash

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2011

Joanna Gilmour describes how colonial portraitists found the perfect market among social status seeking Sydneysiders.

School portraits

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2008

Inga Walton sheds light on a portraiture collection usually only seen by students and teachers at Melbourne University.

Alexander Pearce
executed for murder
July 19th 1824

Public hanging

As a convict Thomas Bock was required to sketch executed murders for science; as a free man, fashionable society portraits.

Hyperversity

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2006

Dr Sarah Engledow writes about the larger-than-life Australian performance artist, Leigh Bowery.

The stately lotus

Magazine article by Dr Anne Sanders, 2013

I spent much of my summer holiday at D’Omah, on the outskirts of Yogyakarta. Lotus and waterlilies sprout in extraordinary profusion in artful ponds amid palms and deep scarlet ginger flowers.

Pop poet

Dr Anne Sanders previews the works in the new focus exhibition Paul Kelly and The Portraits.

Forest Creek, Mount Alexander Diggings, 1852 by S. T. Gill

The Rothschilds, the Montefiores, and the Victorian Gold Rush

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2013

Some years ago my colleague Andrea Wolk Rager and I spent several days in the darkened basement of a Rothschild Bank, inspecting every one of the nearly 700 autochromes created immediately before World War I by the youthful Lionel de Rothschild.

Home truths

Despite once expressing a limited interest in the self portrait, the idea of it has figured strongly in much of Tracey Moffatt's work and has done so in some of her most distinctive and compelling images.

Karl Robert, Count Nesselrode, 1818 by Sir Thomas Lawrence

The Lawrence lustre

Magazine article by Angus Trumble, 2019

Angus Trumble salutes the glorious portraiture of Sir Thomas Lawrence.

Fits of delicacy and despair

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2009

Henry Mundy's portraits flesh out notions of propriety and good taste in a convict colony.

Icons and imagery

Magazine article by Alison Weir, 2011

Alison Weir explores the National Portrait Gallery, London and the BP Portrait Award to find what makes a good painted portrait - past and present.

Snap decisions

Magazine article by Robert Cook, 2018

NPPP judge Robert Cook provides irreverent insight into this year’s fare, and having to be a bit judgemental.

An evening at Yarra Cottage, Port Stephens

Maria Caroline Brownrigg

Magazine article by Diana O'Neil, 2017

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

Revd Dr Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch, c.1795 by Sir Henry Raeburn

Great Scots

Diana O’Neil samples the tartan treats on offer in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

20/20 launch speech

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2011

Dr Helen Nugent AO, Chairman, National Portrait Gallery at the opening of 20/20: Celebrating twenty years with twenty new portrait commissions.

The numbers man

Dr. Sarah Engledow tells the story of Australia's first Federal statistician, Sir George Knibbs.

Lady Jane Grey, c.1590-1600 (also known as The ‘Streatham’ portrait) Artist unknown

The Royal she

Magazine article by Inga Walton, 2019

Traversing paint and pixels, Inga Walton examines portraits of select women in Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits.

Getting a head

Magazine article by Alexandra Roginski, 2015

Alexandra Roginski gets a feel for phrenology’s fundamentals.

Generous Janice

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2013

Dr Sarah Engledow puts four gifts to the National Portrait Gallery’s Collection in context.

Mick Jagger, Madonna and Tony Curtis, 1997

The Vanity model

Magazine article by David Friend, 2009

Vanity Fair Editor David Friend describes how the rebirth of the magazine sated our desire for access into the lives of celebrities and set the standard for the new era of portrait photography.

Progressive pictures

Magazine article by Aimee Board, 2017

Athol Shmith’s photographs contributed to the emergence of a new vision of Australian womanhood.

Sunset in the drawing room at Chesney Wold by Hablot Knight Brown

Portraiture in a Bleak House