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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.

Portrait of Augustus Leopold Küper
Portrait of Augustus Leopold Küper
Portrait of Augustus Leopold Küper

Portrait of Augustus Leopold Küper, 1823

Johann Paul Georg Fischer
Portrait, watercolour over pencil on artist board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

The Conciliation, 1840 by Benjamin Duterrau

The art of conciliation

Magazine article by Gareth Knapman, 2017

Gareth Knapman explores the politics and opportunism behind the portraits of Tasmania’s Black War.

The Right Honourable Viscount Keppel, Admiral of the White Squadron
The Right Honourable Viscount Keppel, Admiral of the White Squadron
The Right Honourable Viscount Keppel, Admiral of the White Squadron

The Right Honourable Viscount Keppel, Admiral of the White Squadron, 1802

William Ridley, Bunney & Gold after George Romney
Portrait, engraving on paper

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

Waterfall in Australia, c. 1830 by Augustus Earle

Augustus serendipitous

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2016

The London-born son of an American painter, Augustus Earle ended up in Australia by accident in January 1825. 

Portrait 52

Autumn 2016
Magazine

This issue feature articles on the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2016, Augustus Earle, Larry Clark, Jude Rae, Oodgeroo Noonuccal and more.

Jane Franklin
Jane Franklin
Jane Franklin

Jane Franklin, c. 1866-1875

an unknown artist after Thomas Bock
Portrait, carved marble relief

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Richard Fitzgerald
Richard Fitzgerald
Richard Fitzgerald

Richard Fitzgerald, c. 1838

Edmund Edgar
Portrait, pencil and watercolour on paper

Gift in memory of Richard Kelynack Evans 2010. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Woureddy [Wurati], a wild native of Brune Island
Woureddy [Wurati], a wild native of Brune Island
Woureddy [Wurati], a wild native of Brune Island

Woureddy [Wurati], a wild native of Brune Island, 1835

Benjamin Duterrau
Portrait, etching, printed in black ink from one copper plate on paper

Purchased with funds provided by The Ian Potter Foundation 2009

Truggernana [Trukanini], a native of southern part of V.D. Land
Truggernana [Trukanini], a native of southern part of V.D. Land
Truggernana [Trukanini], a native of southern part of V.D. Land

Truggernana [Trukanini], a native of southern part of V.D. Land, 1835

Benjamin Duterrau
Portrait, etching, printed in black ink from one copper plate on paper

Purchased with funds provided by The Ian Potter Foundation 2009

Trucaninny [Trukanini], wife of Woureddy [Wurati]
Trucaninny [Trukanini], wife of Woureddy [Wurati]
Trucaninny [Trukanini], wife of Woureddy [Wurati]

Trucaninny [Trukanini], wife of Woureddy [Wurati], 1836

Benjamin Law
Portrait, cast plaster, painted

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Trukanini
Trukanini
Trukanini

Trukanini, 1866 (printed 1890s)

Charles Woolley
Portrait, glass plate negative

Purchased 2011

Trukanini
Trukanini
Trukanini

Trukanini, n.d.

J.W. Beattie after Charles Woolley
Portrait, albumen silver photograph

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Allanah Dopson and Nicholas Heyward 2009

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

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

Benjamin Law
Portrait, cast plaster, painted

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane
Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane
Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane

Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, 1842

Frederick Bromley after Robert Frain
Portrait, mezzotint on paper

Purchased with funds provided by Ross A Field 2008

Self portrait

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.

Roy de Mastre, c. 1930

An Intimate Portrait of an Australian Artist in 1930

Magazine article by Lauren Dalla, 2003

Lauren Dalla examines the life of Australian painter Roy de Maistre and his portrait by Jean Shepeard.

Self portrait with glove

To Look Within

Self Portraits in Australia
Previous exhibition, 2004

This exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of self-portraits in Australia, from the colonial period to the present

Self portrait, c.1900

Reflection

Magazine article by Michael Rosen, 2013

British novelist and poet, Michael Rosen, weaves a tale about his early encounters with creativity and the self-portrait of a childhood friend.

Greek Orthodox Priest, 2015 by Sarah Ball

Hope for kindness

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2018

Sarah Engledow arrives at the junction of fate and hope in Sarah Ball’s poignant Immigrants series.

General Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane

Seeing stars

Celebrating Science Week
About Face article

It has been suggested that Sir Thomas Brisbane’s interest in the New South Wales governorship was as attributable to his passion for astronomy as to the desirability of the position as a prestigious career move.

James, Rebecca and Sam Mapu

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.

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.

A woman of New South Wales, c. 1840

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.

Untitled, 2020 Steph Fuller

The look and the feel

Living Memory exhibition essay
General content

Editor Stephen Phillips looks at the finalists' photographs through a judge's lens.

Monument to Mrs. Moore St. Luke’s Church, Liverpool, Sydney

Waterloo and Mrs. Moore

About Face article

Beyond the centenary of the ANZAC landings at Gallipoli, a number of other notable anniversaries converge this year. Waterloo deserves a little focussed consideration, for in the decades following 1815 numerous Waterloo and Peninsular War veterans came to Australia.

Chevalier d’Eon, 1792

All dressed up

Magazine article by Jane Raffan, 2013

Jane Raffan asks do clothes make the portrait, and can the same work with a new title fetch a better price?

Portrait of Elizabeth Gould with a raptor, possibly a red-footed falcon (Falco vespertinus), painted in her lifetime Artist unknown

Birds of a feather

Magazine article by Annette Twyman, 2021

Charting a path from cockatiel to finch, Annette Twyman explores her family portraits and stories.

Mary Ann Lawrence, 1841

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.

Mr and Mrs Horace Keats in the

Heartfelt

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2009

The portrait of Janet and Horace Keats with the spirit of the poet Christopher Brennan is brought to life by artist Dora Toovey.

Virginia Woolf, 1902 George Charles Beresford

Love my way

Magazine article by Inga Walton, 2022

Inga Walton delves into the bohemian group of artists and writers who used each other as muses and transformed British culture.

Nannultera, a young cricketer of the Natives' Training Institution, Poonindie , 1854 John Michael Crossland

The catechist and the cricketer

Magazine article by Stephen Valambras Graham, 2021

Stephen Valambras Graham traverses the intriguing socio-political terrain behind two iconic First Nations portraits of the 1850s.

Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose, 1885-86 by 
John Singer Sargent

A feast of friends

Magazine article by Richard Ormond, 2015

John Singer Sargent: a painter at the vanguard of contemporary movements in music, literature and theatre.

Omai, Sir Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander, 1775-76

First encounters

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2011

Representations of the inhabitants of the new world expose the complexities of the colonisers' intentions.

Cachasunghia, Osage Warrior 1804–06 by Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin

Political profiles

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2016

Joanna Gilmour examines the prolific output of Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin, and discovers the risk of taking a portrait at face value.

Lady Barkly

A real Pratt

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2015

The death of a gentlewoman is shrouded in mystery, a well-liked governor finds love after sorrow, and two upright men become entangled in the historical record.

An evening at Yarra Cottage, Port Stephens

Maria Caroline Brownrigg

About Face article

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

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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.

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