Search / charles kingsford smith

Magazine article by Sarah Hill, 2001

Gift of the Sydney Airports Corporation 2001

The Wonder Years

Sarah Hill introduces the portrait busts of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Captain Charles Ulm by Enid Fleming.

Sir Charles Kingsford Smith MC AFC

Portrait, cast plaster, patinated

Sir Charles Kingsford Smith MC AFC (1897- last seen 1935) and Captain Charles Ulm (1898-last seen 1934) together founded Australian National Airlines.

3 portraits in the collection

Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, 1932

Enid Fleming

Gift of the Sydney Airports Corporation 2001

Charles Kingsford Smith and crew of the Southern Cross before the east-west crossing of the Atlantic, June 1930

Charles Kingsford Smith and crew of the Southern Cross before the east-west crossing of the Atlantic, June 1930, 1930

International News Photos Inc

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on original lithograph title sheet

Purchased 2019

Australian Aboriginal Cricketers, 1867

Patrick Dawson

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009

(James Smith / Joshua Smith) Chain of being, 2023-2024

Emily Hunt

Portrait, etching on paper

Purchased 2024

Joshua Smith

Joshua Smith studied sculpture with Rayner Hoff and took classes in drawing and painting at Julian Ashton's Sydney Art School.

6 portraits in the collection

Ben Roberts-Smith VC MG

Ben Roberts-Smith VC MG (b. 1978), former Australian Army soldier, is the recipient of the Medal for Gallantry in 2006, the Victoria Cross in 2011 and the Commendation for Distinguished Service in 2013.In 2017, Roberts-Smith’s military service came under scrutiny as a result of an inquiry – commonly known as the Brereton Report – into questions of unlawful conduct on the part of Australian military personnel in Afghanistan.

1 portrait in the collection

The painter transmogrified and Mrs Smith

The painter transmogrified and Mrs Smith, 1973

Portrait, oil on canvas laid down on masonite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Estate of Eric Smith 2019

Dick Smith

Dick Smith (b. 1944), businessman, aviator, film-maker and explorer, developed interests in radio and the bush as a boy.

2 portraits in the collection

Eric Smith

Eric Smith (1919-2017), painter, was born in Brunswick, Melbourne, and trained in commercial art at the Brunswick Technical College before serving in the army during World War 2.

6 portraits in the collection

Julian Smith

Julian Smith, surgeon and photographer, came to Australia with his family from England at the age of three.

2 portraits in the collection

Tommy Smith

Tommy Smith (1916-1998), racehorse trainer, was born at Jembaicumbene near Braidwood, NSW.

2 portraits in the collection

David Smith

David Smith, painter, draughtsman, printmaker and teacher, was born in Lowestoft, Suffolk, where he attended the Technical School and the Lowestoft and Norwich Schools of Art.

1 portrait in the collection

Will, 2010

by Martin Smith

Bernard Smith

Bernard Smith (1916-2011) was one of Australia's most important twentieth-century art historians and an influential cultural commentator.

2 portraits in the collection

Sydney Ure Smith

Sydney Ure Smith, publisher, was responsible for the establishment of Art in Australia in 1916-1942 and the journals The Home and Australian National Journal.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Gerard Smith

Sir Gerard Smith (1839-1920), governor, was educated at Eton before purchasing a commission as an ensign and lieutenant in the Scots Fusilier Regiment of Foot Guards, with whom he served in Canada in 1863-1864.

1 portrait in the collection

Robin Smith

Robin Smith (1927-2024) grew up in rural New Zealand, and studied arts and fine arts at Canterbury University before beginning to write and illustrate adventure and natural history stories.

1 portrait in the collection

Heide Smith

Heide Smith took up photography as a young girl in Germany in 1948, when her uncle gave her a Zeiss Ikon camera.

3 portraits in the collection

Beau D. Smith

Beau Dean Riley Smith is a Wiradjuri and Gamillaraay man, born in Dubbo.

1 portrait in the collection

Shirley Smith AO MBE

Portrait, oil on primed masonite

Shirley 'Mum Shirl' Smith AO OBE (1921–1998), humanitarian, was a Wiradjuri woman.

1 portrait in the collection

Self portrait at 85, 1990

Joshua Smith

Gift of the late May Ralph 2019

Eric Smith

Recorded 1962

Bernard Smith

Recorded 1975

Joshua Smith

Recorded 1965

Peter Purves Smith (1912–1949), artist, went to Geelong Grammar with his lifelong friend Russell Drysdale.

2 portraits in the collection

Sydney Ure Smith, 1948

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, half tone on paper

Purchased 1999

John Firth Smith

John Firth-Smith (b. 1943) is a Sydney abstract painter. In the early 1960s he won a number of 'young artist' prizes for his paintings of yachts on Sydney Harbour, but by 1968 his work was becoming increasingly abstract, featuring large fields of opaque colour.

2 portraits in the collection

Grace Cossington Smith OBE

Grace Cossington Smith OBE (1892–1984) was a pioneer of modernist art in Australia.

1 portrait in the collection

TJ Smith and Tulloch, 1960 (printed 2003)

Ern McQuillan OAM

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003

Stephen Murray-Smith

Stephen Murray-Smith (1922-1988), writer and editor, was educated at Geelong Grammar and the University of Melbourne before serving in New Guinea during World War 2.

1 portrait in the collection

John Raphael Smith

John Raphael Smith worked in various drapery establishments and painted miniatures before turning to engraving in London.

1 portrait in the collection

Mike Smith, 2007 (printed 2013)

Peter Eve

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Eve 2013

Joshua Smith, c. 1955

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

Dick Smith, 1999 (printed 2012)

Rob Tuckwell

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Leah King-Smith

Contributing artists

Born: 1957, Gympie, QLD
Works: Brisbane

Tommy Smith, 1986 (printed 2018)

Gary Ede

Purchased 2018

Stephen Murray-Smith

Recorded 1961

Grace Cossington Smith

Recorded 1965

Little family, 2019

Gene Hart-Smith

Untitled 11, 2018

by Daniel Boetker-Smith

Grace Cossington Smith OBE

Self portrait, 1948

Portrait, oil on cardboard

Purchased 2002

'Mal' Meninga, Rugby League, 1991 (printed 2017)

Heide Smith

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, hand coloured on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2017

Bernard Smith, 1985

Portrait, oil on canvas laid on cardboard

Purchased 1998

Ben Roberts-Smith, 2017

Julian Kingma

Commissioned in 2018 with funds raised through the 2020 project

Treania Smith, c. 1937

Helen Stewart

Gift in memory of Tesse Lang by her husband Moshe Lang and family 2024. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Dick Smith, Sydney, 2000 (printed 2004)

John Elliott

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

The Surgeon (Dr Julian Smith), 1934

Harold Cazneaux

Portrait, oil on canvas laid on board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Bernard Smith, n.d.

Arthur Boyd AC OBE

Gift of an anonymous donor 2002

Mum Shirl (Mrs Shirley Smith), 1988

Gift of the artist 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Hendrik Kolenberg, 1995

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Estate of Eric Smith 2019

Joshua Smith, 1994

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

Get Wet series (Greedy Smith)

Portrait, calico, glazed ceramic, gold lustre, wood, nylon string, synthetic wig, found textiles and bronze

(James Smith) Homunculus trance, 2023-2024

Emily Hunt

Purchased 2024

Joshua Smith, Woolloomooloo, Sydney, 1985 (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

Creatures of Leisure series (Greedy Smith)

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Gerard Smith, Governor of Western Australia, c. 1890

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on cabinet card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Peter Sculthorpe, 1982

Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2004

Richard Divall OBE in the church mantle of the Order of Malta

Richard Divall OBE in the church mantle of the Order of Malta, 1999

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Bequest of Richard Divall AO OBE 2017

Bill Northam, 1964 (printed 2004)

Robin Smith

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2004

Portrait of Henry Vernon Crock AO, 1988

David Smith

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Henry Vernon Crock AO in memory of David Smith 2007
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Neville Gruzman, 1968

Magazine article by Eric Smith, 2004

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2007

Creative space

Eric Smith describes the agony and finally the ecstasy of winning the 1982 Archibald Prize with the portrait of Peter Sculthorpe.

Portrait of Florence Broadhurst, 1968

Joshua Smith

Purchased 2007

Dymphna Clark, 1991

Heide Smith

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

The hoodie, 2021 (printed 2023)

Portrait, pigment print on paper

Purchased with funds provided by Wayne Williams 2023

Sketches and sermons

Magazine article by Jessica Smith, 2009

Jessica Smith looks at the 'fetching' portrait of Tasmania's first Anglican Bishop, Francis Russell Nixon by George Richmond

John Shirlow, c. 1937

Julian Smith

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

John Firth-Smith, 1974

Lewis Morley

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

Stephen Murray-Smith, 1980

Fred Williams

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Lyn Williams AM 2011
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Manning's red socks, 1989 (printed 2012)

Heide Smith

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Heide Smith 2012

John Firth Smith, 1995

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

Surrounded by music, 2008

by Heide Smith

by Alan Hill and Kelly Hussey-Smith

Queen's Birthday Weekend, 2013

Magazine article by Dimity Goldie, 2003

Portrait of a Modernist

The National Portrait Gallery acquired the self-portrait by Grace Cossington Smith in 2003.

Jane Mander Jones, 1853

Henry Robinson Smith

Gift of Susanna de Vienne, Sarah Wood and David Lloyd Jones 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

David Jones, 1853

Henry Robinson Smith

Gift of Susanna de Vienne, Sarah Wood and David Lloyd Jones 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Hendrik Kolenberg and Hector Gilliland in Eric's studio

Hendrik Kolenberg and Hector Gilliland in Eric's studio, c. 1993

Portrait, gouache on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Estate of Eric Smith 2019

Maisie, 1938-1939

Peter Purves Smith

Bequest of Lady Maisie Drysdale 2001

Private practice

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2008

David Smith portrayed Dr Henry Crock without the accoutrements of an orthopaedic surgeon, adding to the National Portrait Gallery's collection of eminent Australian medical practitioners.

Be bold

Magazine article by Katherine Russell, 2007

The name of Florence Broadhurst, one of Australia’s most significant wallpaper and textile designers, is now firmly cemented in the canon of Australian art and design.

Charles Ulm

Charles Ulm (1898-1934) began work as a clerk in a stockbroking office after he left school, but enlisted under a false identity in the 1st Battalion of the AIF just before his 16th birthday.

2 portraits in the collection

Charles Teo AM

John Raphael Smith after Sir Benjamin West

Charles Teo AM (b. 1957) is a neurosurgeon. Born in Sydney, where he attended Scots College and graduated in medicine and surgery from the University of New South Wales, he worked for some years at the Children’s Medical Center, Dallas, Texas and was Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Arkansas.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Joseph Banks, c. 1788

Purchased 2010

Jack Charles

Jack Charles (1943–2022) was a revered Wiradjuri, Boon Warrung, Dja Dja Wurrung, Woiwurrung and Yorta Yorta Elder, activist, actor, musician and artist.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Turner

Charles Turner (1773-1851), engraver, was born in Oxfordshire and moved to London at the end of the 1780s.

2 portraits in the collection

Jack Charles

Recorded 2022

Harriet, blind, 2010

by Charles McKean

Charles Kean

Charles Kean (1811-1868), actor, threw in his Eton education when his mother was deserted by his penniless father, the tragedian Edmund Kean.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Hewitt

Born in Lincolnshire, Charles Hewitt (1837–1912) had begun working in Melbourne by 1860 and was one of the founding members of the Photographic Society of Victoria.

3 portraits in the collection

Charles Abraham

Charles Abraham, son of a London architect, trained at the Royal Academy schools under the sculptor Sierier, and for a further three years in Paris and Rome.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Troedel

Charles Troedel (1835-1906), born in Hamburg, was working in Norway when he was headhunted by AW Schuhkrafft, a Melbourne printer who seeking European craftsmen.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Brome

Charles Brome, engraver, trained from the age of fourteen with the engraver Skelton in London and exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1798 to 1801.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Rodius

Charles Rodius (aka Rhodius) was born in Germany and went to England sometime before 1829, when he was convicted of stealing a reticule and transported to NSW for seven years.

4 portraits in the collection

Charles Woolley

Charles Alfred Woolley (1834-1922), photographer and sketcher, ran a studio on Macquarie Street in Hobart from 1859 to 1870, producing numerous portraits along with views and stereographs of Hobart and surrounding areas.

6 portraits in the collection

Sir Charles Mackerras AC KT CBE

Sir (Alan) Charles Mackerras AC CBE (1925-2010) was chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra from 1982 to 1985.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Blackman OBE

Charles Blackman OBE (1928–2018), artist, studied at East Sydney Technical College and worked as a press artist for the Sun newspaper before moving to Melbourne, where he came to the attention of arts patron John Reed.

9 portraits in the collection

Sir Charles Moses

Sir Charles Moses (1900-1988), legendary General Manager of the ABC from 1935 to 1965, was born 21 January 1900 in Lancaster, UK and migrated to Australia in 1922, after four years in the army.

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

Dr Charles Perry

Charles Perry (1807-1891) was consecrated the first Bishop of Melbourne at Westminster Abbey in 1847, only eleven years after he was ordained into the Anglican church.

4 portraits in the collection

Sir Charles Nicholson

Sir Charles Nicholson (1808-1903), statesman, landowner, businessman, connoisseur, scholar and physician, was born illegitimately into unpropitious circumstances in Yorkshire.

2 portraits in the collection

Charles Wheeler

Charles Wheeler OBE (1881–1977), artist, won the Archibald Prize in 1933 for a portrait of the popular Melbourne-based writer Ambrose Pratt.

8 portraits in the collection

Charles Summers

Charles Summers (1825-1878) was an English born sculptor, who came to Australia in 1852.

2 portraits in the collection

Charles Chauvel

Charles Chauvel (1897-1959), actor and film-maker, worked on the sets of Snowy Baker films as a young man, and followed the great action hero to Hollywood in 1921.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Tingwell AM

Charles 'Bud' Tingwell AM (1923-2009), actor, became the youngest radio announcer in Australia when he was employed at Sydney radio station 2CH as a cadet.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Perkins AO

Charles Perkins AO (1936–2000) was an Indigenous rights campaigner and bureaucrat.

6 portraits in the collection

Charles Blackman

Recorded 1965

Charles Mackerras

Recorded 1971

Jarrah, 2019

Charles Tambiah

The chase, 1952

Portrait, tempera on masonite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Rob and Paula McLean 2011
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Radclyffe Hall

Charles Buchel

Portrait, pastel with ink wash on paper

Self portrait, c. 1849

Charles Rodius

Purchased 2009

Captain Ulm, 1932

Enid Fleming

Portrait, cast plaster, patinated

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Sydney Airports Corporation 2001

Rod McNicol and Jack Charles

'We're village elders on Smith Street'

Rod and Jack on the series of portraits they created together.

Jack Charles, 2011

Rod McNicol

Purchased 2013

Charles Warman Roberts

Charles Warman Roberts (1821–1894), publican, was born in Sydney, the eldest son of free settler parents who emigrated to Australia in 1821.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Charles Lloyd Jones

Sir Charles Lloyd Jones (1878-1958), merchant and arts patron, grew up in Sydney, where he studied at Julian Ashton's art school in 1895.

1 portrait in the collection

Delegates to the Constitutional Convention, Sydney 1891

Charles Cameron Kingston PC KC

Charles Cameron Kingston was a delegate from South Australia to the Constitutional Convention, Sydney, 1891.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Vincent Charles Fairfax CMG

Sir Vincent Charles Fairfax CMG (1909-1993), pastoralist, was the son of JHF Fairfax.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Joseph La Trobe

Charles Joseph La Trobe (1801-1875), colonial administrator, travelled widely in Europe and America before beginning his colonial career in the West Indies in 1837.

3 portraits in the collection

Charles John Cerutty CMG

Charles John Cerutty CMG (1870-1941), public servant, began his career at the age of eighteen as a clerk in the Victorian Department of the Treasurer.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Gibson Millar

Charles Gibson Millar (1839–1900), entrepreneur, was engaged in a number of industrial and agricultural enterprises in Australia during the 1870s, 80s and 90s.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Haddon Chambers

Charles Haddon Chambers (1860-1921), playwright and dramatist, grew up in Sydney.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Charles Edward Merrett CBE

Sir Charles Edward Merrett CBE (1863-1948), merchant and agriculturalist, was a schoolboy at Melbourne Church of England Grammar School when his father was retrenched and died.

1 portrait in the collection

Anthony Charles Carden

Anthony Charles Carden (1961–1995), activist and actor, became interested in performance while a school student at Knox Grammar, Wahroonga.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Kean, c. 1865

H N. King

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Sir Charles Nicholson, 1898

Elliott and Fry

Portrait, glass plate negative

Gift of Stephen Scheding and Jim Berry 2015

Trukanini, 1866 (printed 1890s)

Charles Woolley

Purchased 2011

Charlie's angles

Magazine article by Stephen Phillips, 2017

Stephen Phillips talks to neurosurgeon Charlie Teo about his practice, perspectives and the anatomy of hope.

Bungaree, Chief of the Broken Bay Tribe, N S Wales

Bungaree, Chief of the Broken Bay Tribe, N S Wales, c. 1830

Charles Rodius

Purchased 2018

Mary Seacole

Albert Charles Challen

Magazine article by Gillian Raymond, 2005

Modern Australian Women

Close contemporaries, Thea Proctor, Margaret Preston and Grace Cossington Smith were frequently sources of inspiration and irritation to each other.

The Family

by Charles Blackman

Portrait, pastel on paper laid on canvas

Meredith McKinney, subject of Charles Blackman's 'The Family', recounts memories from her childhood and the creation of the portrait.

Charles John Fairfax, c. 1860

Edwin Dalton

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd 2002
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Sir Charles Mackerras, 1983

Arthur Fleischmann

Portrait, cast bronze on mosaic tile panel

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Sir Charles Mackerras 2009

The Right Honourable Charles Lord Hawkesbury, Chancellor of the Duchy and County Palatine of Lancaster

Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool

Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool (1729–1808), statesman, was educated at Oxford and entered parliament in 1761.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Windeyer, 1830s

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

Sir Charles Moses, 1968

Mark Strizic

Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2003

Charles Blondin, 1874

Timothy Noble

Portrait, cast bronze relief medallion

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Sir Charles Nicholson, 1854

Thomas Woolner

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased through the Foundation Acquisitions Fund 2015

Portrait of Charles Blackman, 1979

Portrait, fibre-tipped pen, watercolour on paper

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

Charles Perkins, 1974

Frank Hinder

Gift of HOTA (Home of the Arts), Gold Coast 2019 with the encouragement of Patrick Corrigan AM

Charles Perkins on bus to Tranby Aboriginal College, Glebe

Charles Perkins on bus to Tranby Aboriginal College, Glebe, c. 1964 (printed 2015)

Purchased 1999

Small Holdings (The Earl Carrington Baron Charles Robert Carrington)

Charles Robert Wynn-Carrington

Charles Robert Wynn-Carrington (1843–1928), 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire, landowner and Liberal politician, was governor of New South Wales in the late 1880s.

2 portraits in the collection

Charles Perkins on bus to Tranby Aboriginal College, Glebe, c. 1964 (printed 2003)

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2013. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Charles Perry, c. 1863

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Charles Perry, c. 1863

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Charles Windeyer, c. 1846-1849

George B. Goodman

Portrait, daguerreotype

Gift of the Windeyer family 2009

Charles Blackman, 1992

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

Charles Blackman, 2008

Sahlan Hayes

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2010

Charles Wheeler, 1961

Louis Kahan AO

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Lily Kahan 2006
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Colonel Charles E. Merrett, 1925

A S. Peterson

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Sir Ernest Thomas Fisk, 1943-1944

Portrait, coloured chalk and black ink on artist board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2019

John Fairfax, 1873

Charles Summers

Portrait, carrara marble

Gift of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Rosina Carandini, mid 1860s

Charles Hewitt

Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Fannie Carandini, mid 1860s

Charles Hewitt

Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

The family, c. 1955

Portrait, oil on board

Gift of Barbara Blackman 2000. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Celine Céleste, c. 1860

Charles Clarkington

Portrait, inkjet print from a scanned colour transparency on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Albert Namatjira, c. 1954-1958 (printed 2017)

Charles Chauvel

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2017

Portrait of Georges Mora, 1956

Portrait, oil on paper laid on board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (future Queen Elizabeth II)

Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (future Queen Elizabeth II), 1942-1943

Purchased 2019

Melbourne University with portraits of six Melbourne Anglican clergymen: Bishop Perry, Revd Clarke, Revd Waugh, Revd Henderson, Revd Dr Cairns, Revd Bailey

Melbourne University with portraits of six Melbourne Anglican clergymen: Bishop Perry, Revd Clarke, Revd Waugh, Revd Henderson, Revd Dr Cairns, Revd Bailey, c. 1871

Paterson Brothers

Purchased 2010

Kumantjayi Perkins at the Roma Forum, Brisbane

Kumantjayi Perkins at the Roma Forum, Brisbane, 1982

Gift of the artist 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

In memory of the Rev William Hill, 1869

Charles Wherrett

Magazine article by Aimee Board, 2020

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Peripheral vision

Aimee Board chats to emerging photographer Charles Dennington.

Bud Tingwell, 2005

John Tsiavis

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

C.J. Cerutty, 1926

Tom Glover

J.W. Beattie after Charles Woolley

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Trukanini, n.d.

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

Rod McNicol

'Life and Times'

Charles Woolley, J.W. Beattie

Echoing 19th-century photography, Rod McNicol's portraits give us a chance to look quietly at the human condition.

Cooneana (Patty), 1866 (printed c. 1891)

Portrait, glass plate negative

Purchased 2011

William Lanne, 1866 (printed 1890s)

Charles Woolley

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Acacius (Stigmata) - Tony Carden, 1991

AñA Wojak

Portrait, oil and gold leaf on cedar panel

Gift of Lesley Saddington 2015

Charles Lloyd Jones, n.d.

Louis Kahan AO

Portrait, cast bronze relief medallion

Gift of Mrs Lily Kahan 2017. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Charles Joseph La Trobe, 1853

Thomas Woolner

Purchased 2006

Charles Summers, late 1860s

Batchelder & Company Photo

Adam Chang (Hong Jun Zhang)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Charles Teo, 2012

Portrait, ink and watercolour on cardboard

Gift of Eleonora Triguboff 2013

Charles Haddon Chambers, 1921

Ralph Barton

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Sir Charles Lloyd Jones, 1951

Sir William Dobell OBE

Gift of the Simpson family in memory of Caroline Simpson OAM 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

A Popular Preacher. "Charity Covereth a Multitude of Sins" [Charles Clark], 1873

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Adut Akech, 2018 (printed 2020)

Gift of the artist 2020

Adut Akech with brother Bior, 2018 (printed 2020)

Gift of the artist 2020

Adut Akech with siblings Kim, Yar, Bior and Alakiir

Adut Akech with siblings Kim, Yar, Bior and Alakiir, 2018 (printed 2020)

Gift of the artist 2020

Adut Akech with baby sister Akoul, 2018 (printed 2020)

Gift of the artist 2020

Sir Vincent Fairfax, 1981

Bryan Westwood

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd 2002
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Henry Chamberlain Russell and family at Sydney Observatory

Henry Chamberlain Russell and family at Sydney Observatory, c. 1895

Charles Bayliss

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite photograph on card

Gift of Joanna Russell Maher (née Windeyer) 2018

H.R.H. The Prince of Wales, c. 1863

John & Charles Watkins

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2020

William Lanne, c. 1866

J.W. Beattie after Charles Woolley

Charles Fox after Sir Thomas Lawrence

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

Alexander MacLeay, c. 1845

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

William Lyne, late 1860s

Charles Woolley

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Dr. Arthur Martin a'Beckett, 1845

Charles Abraham

Portrait, cast plaster

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

Creatures of Leisure, 1982

Portrait, 5 screenprints on paper

Get Wet Series, 1979

Portrait, five screenprints on paper

Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001

Charles Warman Roberts, 1878

George Baird Shaw

Batchelder & Company Photo

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Thoms family 2011

Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, c. 1870

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

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

An Irish Patriot. "Why is Ireland Poor? I'm not!" [Sir Charles Gavan Duffy], 1874

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Lieutenant Colonel Kathleen A. L. Best, 1943-1944

Purchased 2019

Dr Ludwig Leichhardt, 1846

Charles Rodius

Purchased 2004

Lord Casey, c. 1932

Portrait, conté, brush and ink on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2003

Fine and dandy

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2010

Whether the result of misadventure or misdemeanour, many accomplished artists were transported to Australia where they ultimately left a positive mark on the history of art in this country.

Big bouquet of Blackmans

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2013

Dr. Sarah Engledow explores the context surrounding Charles Blackman's portrait of Judith Wright, Jack McKinney and their daughter Meredith.

The Right Honourable Lord Viscount Melbourne

The Right Honourable Lord Viscount Melbourne, 1839

Charles Turner after Sir George Hayter

Samuel Bellin after Francis Grant

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

Charles Joseph La Trobe, c. 1857

Purchased 2010

Sir Roland Hibbert Cross, 1943-1944

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2006

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2019

Pre-Raphaelite Profile

In 2006 the National Portrait Gallery acquired a splendid portrait of Victoria's first governor, Lieutenant Governor Charles Joseph La Trobe by Thomas Woolner.

Reverend Daniel Draper, c. 1866

Fredrick Charles Burman after John Cochran

John Murphy after George Romney

Purchased 2010

The Right Honourable Charles Lord Hawkesbury, Chancellor of the Duchy and County Palatine of Lancaster, 1788

Thomas Atkinson, Samuel Mullen after Henry Weigall Jnr

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

The Right Reverend Lord Bishop of Melbourne (Dr. Charles Perry), 1876

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Suave

Thomas Woolnoth, Charles Knight

Charles Haddon Chambers the Australian-born playboy playwright settled permanently in London in 1880 but never lost his Australian stance when satirising the English.

La Perouse, from a miniature in the possession of La Perouse's niece at Alby

La Perouse, from a miniature in the possession of La Perouse's niece at Alby, n.d.

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

Jimmy Melrose and his mother Hilda Westley

Jimmy Melrose and his mother Hilda Westley, 1934

Portrait, silver gelatin photograph on paper

Gift of Sally Douglas 2024

Madame Carandini, c. 1872

Charles Hewitt, A Marion Son and Co (Paris/London)

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on cabinet card

Purchased 2022

His Royal Highness Prince Henry William Frederick Albert, Duke of Gloucester (Governor General of Australia)

His Royal Highness Prince Henry William Frederick Albert, Duke of Gloucester (Governor General of Australia), 1943-1944

Portrait, coloured chalk with black ink highlight on artist board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2019

Home and away

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2012

Sir William Dobell painted the portraits of Sir Charles Lloyd Jones and Sir Hudson Fysh, who did much to promote the image of Australia in this country and abroad.

Beguiling impressions

Sarah Engledow is seduced by the portraits and the connections between the artists and their subjects in the exhibition Impressions: Painting light and life.

John Knatchbull, Murderer of Mrs Ellen Jamieson

John Knatchbull, Murderer of Mrs Ellen Jamieson, 1844

Charles Rodius, Hiberian Printing Office

Charles Turner after Sir Thomas Lawrence

Gift of Leo Schofield AM 2005. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool

Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, 1827

Charles Troedel after Robert Wendel

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, c. 1890

Sir Leslie Ward, Vincent Brooks, Day & Son, Vanity Fair Magazine

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

Saide, R.Y.S. (Charles Gibson Millar), 1894

Sir Leslie Ward, Bemrose Dalziel Ltd, Vanity Fair Magazine

Purchased 2015

Small Holdings (The Earl Carrington Baron Charles Robert Carrington), 1907

Carlo Pellegrini, Vincent Brooks, Day & Son, Vanity Fair Magazine

Gift of Ronald Walker 2002

Charlie (Lord Charles Robert Carrington)

Charlie (Lord Charles Robert Carrington), 1874

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2011

Purchased 2013

Painting mates

Michael Desmond discusses Fred Williams' portraits of friends, artist Clifton Pugh, David Aspden and writer Stephen Murray-Smith, and the stylistic connections between his portraits and landscapes.

a Traveller (2nd Baron Lamington), 1892

Sir Leslie Ward, Vincent Brooks, Day & Son, Vanity Fair Magazine

Purchased 2015

John Roper, 1860s

John Buchanan Smith

Unknown artist Publisher Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John Sandefur 2019

'The Australian Cricketers' from The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News June 1882, page 1

Portrait, platinum photograph

Charles Conder, Stella Maris Condor and Florence Humphrey at les Petites Dalles, Normandy

Charles Conder, Stella Maris Condor and Florence Humphrey at les Petites Dalles, Normandy, 1902

H. Walter Barnett

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Sir Charles Court and Richard Court, 2006-2007

Mary Moore

Charles Brome after William Owen

Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2006

The Right Honourable William Pitt, 1799

Portrait, line engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

Charles and Adam, 1990 (printed 2013)

Michael Riley

Purchased 2013

Charles Perkins with Eileen Perkins, 1964 (printed 2021)

Purchased with funds provided by Tim Bednall 2021

Judith Wright with Barbara Blackman, c. 1956

Portrait, oil on paper laid down on board

Gift of Joanna McNiven 2018. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother)

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother), 1943-1944

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

Purchased 2019

Richard Windeyer, c. 1828

Charles Richard Bone

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

The New Arrivals at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, 1941

Russell Drysdale

Portrait, pen and pencil on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Bequest of Lady Maisie Drysdale 2001

Girl (portrait of Barbara Blackman), 1969

Portrait, charcoal on paper

Purchased 2009

Untitled (portrait of Barbara Blackman), 1976

Portrait, charcoal on paper

Purchased 2009

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.

Opening of the First Legislative Council of Victoria by Governor Charles Joseph LaTrobe at St Patrick's Hall, Bourke Street West, Melbourne November 13th 1851, 1883

John Noone after William Strutt

Portrait, photolithograph on paper

Purchased 2013

'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, Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News

Portrait, engravings on paper

Purchased 2009

Set of 129 Royal Christmas Cards and three miscellaneous items, 1951-2001

Portrait, offset print (tipped in), letter press (greeting), pen and ink (signature), embossed (royal emblem) on cardboard

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

Delegates to the Constitutional Convention, Sydney 1891, 1891

Portrait, engravings on paper

Purchased 2009

Extraordinary airmen make aviation history

Passion

Charles is my wingman

Grace Cossington Smith, OBE

Carol Jerrems

King Charles I

Gerrit van Honthorst

Prince Charles Edward Stuart

Louis Gabriel Blanchet

Charles, 2015

by Amiel Courtin-Wilson

Winner, DPA 2016

Charles Darwin

John Collier

Beau Dean Riley Smith, Wiradjuri and Gamilaraay nations, Bennelong

Beau Dean Riley Smith, Wiradjuri and Gamilaraay nations, Bennelong

Nancy Bird Walton, c. 1973

Gift of Nancy Bird Walton AO OBE 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Enid Fleming

Enid Fleming was a pupil of Rayner Hoff's at the East Sydney Technical College at the time these works were made (Hoff and several of his other students were working on the Anzac Memorial at the time).

2 portraits in the collection

Ben Chifley, n.d.

Gift of Danina Dupain Anderson 2017. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Charles William Vane-Stewart, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry

Sir Thomas Lawrence

Gilbert Eric Douglas

Gilbert Eric Douglas (1902–1970), pilot and air force officer, took part in Sir Douglas Mawson’s British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE), which took the form of two ocean voyages conducted over the southern summers of 1929–30 and 1930–31.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Dickens

Daniel Maclise

Nancy Bird Walton - Pioneer, 2003

Danelle Bergstrom

Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2004

Nancy Bird Walton AO OBE

Nancy Bird Walton AO OBE (1915–2009), aviatrix, decided she wanted to be a pilot when, at age eight, she saw a plane make an emergency landing on a beach near her home.

2 portraits in the collection

William Charles Windeyer, c. 1857

Portrait, daguerreotype

Gift of the Windeyer family 2009

Frank McIlwraith

Frank McIlwraith was the London representative for the Australian periodical Smith's Weekly in the late 1930s.

1 portrait in the collection

Annie Edensor Roberts

Charles Warman Roberts married Annie Edensor Marsden (1824-1895) in Sydney in June 1845.

1 portrait in the collection

Eric Douglas, c. 1930

Frank Hurley OBE

Magazine article by Magda Keaney, 2003

Gift of Sally Douglas 2009

Sir William Dargie CBE

Sir William Dargie, painter and eight times winner of the Archibald Prize for portraiture, died in Melbourne on July 26, 2003, aged 91.

Eileen Perkins

Eileen Perkins is a descendant of one of Adelaide's prominent German Lutheran families.

1 portrait in the collection

Ben Roberts-Smith, 2018

by Julian Kingma

Commissioned in 2018 with funds raised through the 2020 project

Contact sheet (Kate Fitzpatrick; Grace Cossington-Smith)

Carol Jerrems

David Lloyd Jones, 1944

Sir William Dobell OBE

Gift of David Lloyd Jones, in memory of his father, David Lloyd Jones 2021. Donated through Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

William Charles Windeyer, 1856

Portrait, daguerreotype

Gift of the Windeyer family 2009

Sir William Charles Windeyer, 1892

Tom Roberts

Portrait, cast bronze relief medallion

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

William Charles Wentworth, 1854

Thomas Woolner

Gift of the Simpson family in memory of Caroline Simpson OAM 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

N.T. Ranger Uranium: Preparatory study for 'Nothing's as precious as a hole in the ground'

N.T. Ranger Uranium: Preparatory study for 'Nothing's as precious as a hole in the ground', 2001

eX de Medici

Portrait, pencil on paper

Commissioned with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001

Single parent Robert Smith-Goode, housing commission flats, 2009

by Jenny Hodge

William Charles Windeyer aged six, 1840

Portrait, watercolour on ivory

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

Tracey, 2018

by Rod McNicol

Portrait, mangrove bark pigment, watercolour and gouache on vellum

Nothing's as precious as a hole in the ground

Nothing's as precious as a hole in the ground, 2001

eX de Medici

Commissioned with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001

William Charles Wentworth -The Australian Patriot

William Charles Wentworth -The Australian Patriot, c. 1870

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Self portrait with Charlie (David Hockney; Charles Dare Scheips)

David Hockney

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

H B. Hall

Henry Bryan Hall grew up in England and began his trade as an apprentice to the engravers Benjamin Smith and Henry Meyer.

1 portrait in the collection

Colin Wills

Colin Wills (1906–1965), journalist and author, was born in Toowoomba, Queensland and grew up in Sydney.

1 portrait in the collection

Annie Roberts, 1878

George Baird Shaw

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Reg, Lesley, Glen and Paul Thoms 2011

'Come + see the real thing, come + see' Conquistadors parts Hong. Ranger 3: Preparatory study for 'Nothing's as precious as a hole in the ground'

Peter Garrett AM

Portrait, carved marble on travertine marble base

Peter Garrett AM (b. 1953), musician, environmental and social activist, and former politician, is the lead singer of the band Midnight Oil, which originated in Sydney's northern beaches in the mid-1970s.

12 portraits in the collection

Bust of Peter Garrett, 1991-2016

Peter Schipperheyn

Gift of the artist 2018. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Those trees came back to me in my dreams

Joan Ross

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

Ann Mary Windeyer, 1847

G Ziegler

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

Sir William Dargie

A Ninetieth Birthday Tribute

Previous exhibition, 2002

As a tribute to Sir William Dargie's singular contribution to Australian art and cultural institutions, and on the occasion of his birthday, The Australian War Memorial, Parliament House and the National Portrait Gallery will mount exhibitions of his work between May and October

The Photographic Society of Victoria, Melbourne

The Photographic Society of Victoria was formed in 1876 to 'bring photographers together in a friendly spirit, in order to advance the art and science of photography in the colony, without any attempt at binding or dictating to members any special trading rules, such as charges for photographs or hours or days for closing or opening their respective establishments.' At the time of the first annual meeting on 9 March 1877 there were 61 members, five whom were ladies.

1 portrait in the collection

Lady Maisie Drysdale

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on card

Lady Maisie Drysdale (1915–2001), children's librarian and artists' muse, developed an interest in art as a child, and attended both the University of Melbourne and George Bell's art school.

1 portrait in the collection

Lady Loch, c. 1890

Tuttle & Co

Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Adam Perkins

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2003

Adam Perkins, an Arrernte and Kalkadoon man, is the son of Indigenous rights campaigner and bureaucrat Charles Perkins AO.

1 portrait in the collection

The Fairfax Gift

This article examines the portraits gifted to the National Portrait Gallery by Fairfax Holdings in 2003.

The aviatrix

Portrait, sepia toned carbon print on card

Joanna Gilmour explores the extraordinary life of Australian female aviator Nancy Bird Walton AO OBE

Henry Lingham, early 1900s

Mendelssohn of Melbourne

Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Four from the 30s

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2003

Australia's tradition of sculpted portraits stretches back to the early decades of the nineteenth century and continues to sustain a group of dedicated sculptors.

The Capel Family

Cornelius Johnson

I like to name everything after myself

Joan Ross

Portrait, albumen photograph on card

Minnie Walton (photograph of Miss Rose Massey on verso)

Minnie Walton (photograph of Miss Rose Massey on verso), 1876

Lock & Whitfield, London

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Francis Houssemayne de Boulay, n.d.

J Fisher

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Self portrait, 1858-1860

George Fordyce Story

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Rod McNicol

Winner, National Photographic Portrait Prize 2012

Rod McNicol on photographing Jack Charles.

Francis Lymburner, c. 1946

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

Portrait 7

March - May 2003

This issue of Portrait Magazine features Grace Cossington Smith, the Fairfax portrait gift and Lewis Morley's photographs.

Francis Lymburner

Francis Lymburner (1916-1972) was a Queensland-born artist who was educated at Brisbane Grammar and took art classes at Brisbane Technical College.

2 portraits in the collection

Sidney Nolan, 1982

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint on canvas board

Purchased with funds provided by Ross Adler AC 2022

George Andronicus, 1985 (printed 2018)

Gary Ede

Purchased with funds provided by Wayne Williams 2018

Sarah Fairfax

Sarah Reading (1808-1875) came to Sydney from England in 1838 with her husband, John Fairfax (1805-1877), who had left school at the age of twelve and been apprenticed to a printer and bookseller.

1 portrait in the collection

Icons Syndicate

Listed alphabetically

Hon. John Fairfax MLC

John Fairfax (1805-1877) was a newspaper publisher whose purchase of the Sydney Morning Herald in 1841 began a family association with the paper that would last for over five generations and nearly 150 years.

3 portraits in the collection

George Moore

George Moore (1923-2008), champion jockey, was born in Mackay, Qld and was apprenticed in Brisbane in 1938.

1 portrait in the collection

Lady Natasha Johnston

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2009

Natasha Johnston (1914-1984) was born Nataliya Konstantinovna Bagration-Moukhranskya, Princess Natasha Bagration, in Crimea.

1 portrait in the collection

In the round

Andrew Sayers outlines the highlights of the National Portrait Gallery's display of portrait sculpture.

Digital Portraiture Award 2016

Previous exhibition, 2016

An annual event to extend traditional notions of portraiture and foster emerging artists with an interest in new technology.

Les Darcy

Les Darcy (1895-1917), boxer, was one of Australia's earliest sporting heroes.

3 portraits in the collection

Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel

Sir Peter Paul Rubens

Portrait 43

June - August 2012

Previous exhibition, 2022

This issue features Cindy Sherman, Tim Storrier, Brett Whiteley and Patrick White, contemporary Chinese portraiture, Charles Blackman and more.

Time and Line

In Gallery Seven

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

Nell Gwyn

Simon Verelst

Portrait, carrara marble on scagliola column

John Fairfax, mid to late 19th century

Achille Simonetti

Gift of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

George Finey

George Finey, one of Australia's best-known cartoonists, was born in Auckland and was selling drawings to local newspapers by the time he was 14.

1 portrait in the collection

Les Darcy, c. 1916

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

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

Alec Murray

Alec Murray was a photographer whose Alec Murray's Album: Personalities of Australia was published by Sydney Ure Smith in about 1948.

1 portrait in the collection

John Chapman

Little is known of John Chapman, who engraved fine allegorical subjects after the designs of J Smith and Richard Corbould and worked closely with Thomas Macklin on his Shakespeare series.

2 portraits in the collection

Lady Natasha Johnston, 1968

Cecil Beaton

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Hugo Vickers 2005

Harry Hudson

Harry Hudson (1907-1974) was a Melbourne-based painter. His work was included in a number of group exhibitions at the Bridget McDonnell Gallery, Carlton in the 1980s along with those of such notable artists as Roland Wakelin, Grace Cossington-Smith and James Gleeson.

1 portrait in the collection

Oliver Cromwell

Robert Walker

Edward Lloyd Jones, c. 1920s

Arthur Murch

Gift of Charles E. Lloyd Jones and Kim Lloyd Jones 2019. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

G Ziegler

Previous exhibition, 2012

Very little is known as yet about the artist G Ziegler, who may have been related to the painter Henry Bryan Ziegler.

1 portrait in the collection

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2012

The National Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition is selected from a national field of entries that reflect the distinctive vision of Australia's aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of their subjects.

Gwendolene Pratt

Portraits by Michael Riley

Gwen Pratt FRAS (b.1917) is a traditional painter and portraitist in oil, watercolour and pastel.

1 portrait in the collection

Beauty and strength

Previous exhibition, 2014

Influential Indigenous Australian artist Michael Riley (1960 - 2004) created these portrait photographs between 1984 and 1990 - they stand as an intricately connected group portrait of the vibrant urban-based Indigenous arts community in Sydney's inner-west at a formative moment.

The hoodie

Previous exhibition, 2013

Judy Cassab

The artist's diary

The artist's diary profiles six decades of Cassab's work, from the early portrait commissions of the 1950s to later paintings that have helped confirm her eminent place in the canon of Australian portraiture.

Kate Girard, c. 1885

Mora of New York

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Jean Baptiste Guth

French artist Jean Baptiste Guth was a regular contributor of portraits to Vanity Fair during the late 1880s and throughout the 1890s.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir William Dobell OBE

Magazine article by Tamsin Hong, 2016

Sir William Dobell (1899–1970), painter, studied art and was apprentice to an architect in Sydney before leaving Australia for Europe in 1929.

10 portraits in the collection

Rev. Victor B. Walls and Mrs. Walls, Trinidad, B.W.I., c.1930

The first nurse

Tamsin Hong recounts the tale of Marion Smith, the only known Australian Indigenous servicewoman of World War One.

Missing Persons

Thomas Woolner in Australia

Desperately seeking Woolner medallions

Elizabeth Fairfax

Elizabeth Fairfax (née Jesson, 1778–1861), colonial free settler, was born in Birmingham and around 1800 married William Fairfax, whose family had previously held estates in Barford, Warwickshire.

1 portrait in the collection

Barry Sullivan

Barry Sullivan (1821-1891), English actor, performed on the Melbourne stage between 1862 and 1866.

1 portrait in the collection

Richard Windeyer

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

Judy, 2012

by Sally Robinson

Lady [Hannah] Lloyd Jones, 1970

More about In the flesh artists

Gift of Charles E. Lloyd Jones and Kim Lloyd Jones 2019. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Ron Mueck

Ron Mueck grew up in Melbourne and began a career in puppetry and special-effects based in the US and then London. In the mid-1990s Charles Saatchi commissioned four major works including Dead dad, which were exhibited in Saatchi’s exhibition ‘Sensation’ at the Royal Academy, London and which travelled to Berlin and Brooklyn.

Portrait of Mrs Fairfax, n.d.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd 2002
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Troye Sivan, 2018

by James Brickwood

Freeman Brothers after Edwin Dalton

Maria Windeyer, c. 1865-1868

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

Gift of J.B. Windeyer 2018

Contributing artists

Portraiture. Power. Influence.

Find out more from each of the artists reinterpreting and reimagining elements of Australian history.

Ralph Heimans

Previous exhibition, 2024

The exhibition will feature some of the most significant portraits in the artist’s career to date, from early major works such as his painting of HM Queen Mary of Denmark through to his most recent.

In the galleries

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2009

Christopher Chapman highlights the inaugural hang of the new National Portrait Gallery building which opened in December 2008.

In the mirror: self portrait with Joy Hester

In the mirror: self portrait with Joy Hester, 1939

Portrait, pastel on paper laid on canvas

Gift of the artist 1999. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

John Fairfax, c. 1860

Edwin Dalton

Gift of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Chicka Dixon, 1980

Gift of the artist 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Danelle Bergstrom

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

Chicka Dixon

Archived media releases 2016

Charles ‘Chicka’ Dixon (1928–2010), Yuin Elder, Aboriginal rights activist and social pioneer, was born at Wallaga Lake on the New South Wales south coast.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles (still from video) by Amiel Courtin-Wilson

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

2 December 2016

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

Portrait 64

Summer 2019/20

Marian Anderson, emerging photographer Charles Dennington, piscatorial portraits, and the poignant path of photographer Polixeni Papapetrou and more.

Joy Hester

Previous exhibition, 2023

Joy Hester (1920-1960) was the only female member of the Angry Penguin movement, which included artists Tucker, Sidney Nolan and Arthur Boyd.

1 portrait in the collection

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2023

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.

Paul Haefliger

Paul Haefliger (1914-1982) trained in Sydney and then in London with Bernard Meninsky and Mark Gertler.

1 portrait in the collection

Jon Molvig

Helge Jon Molvig was born and grew up in Newcastle, where he left school at thirteen and worked in a garage and at the steelworks.

6 portraits in the collection

Teenagers 2024

Juliet Taylor

A folio of British street portraits 1824–1844

Copeman, gardener, Great Yarmouth by John Dempsey

Dempsey's people

Previous exhibition, 2017

Dempsey’s people: a folio of British street portraits 1824–1844 is the first exhibition to showcase the compelling watercolour images of English street people made by the itinerant English painter John Dempsey throughout the first half of the nineteenth century.

Life and time

Portraits by Rod McNicol

Previous exhibition, 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.

William Owen

William Owen moved to London from his native Shropshire in 1786 and was apprenticed for seven years to the coach-painter Charles Catton.

1 portrait in the collection

Self portrait, c. 1984

Portrait, watercolour and pastel on paperboard

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Barbara Tucker 2004

Roland Wakelin

Roland Wakelin was born in New Zealand and studied at the RAS school in Sydney under Dattilo Rubbo from 1912 to 1914.

1 portrait in the collection

Sister Mary Brady

Sister Mary Brady OP (1922-2014), born in Tamworth, is a self-taught painter, though she did receive critiques from Joshua Smith and Norman Carter.

1 portrait in the collection

David Warren

Previous exhibition, 2011

David Warren graduated from RMIT in 1964, after which he taught for some twenty years at the Prahran School of Art, RMIT and Ballarat CAE.

1 portrait in the collection

Tea time, c.1898–1902 by Rupert Bunny (1864–1947)

Impressions

Painting light and life

Impressions: Painting light and life presents portraits by, and of, artists at the heart of Australian impressionism including Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton and Frederick McCubbin.

Face the Music

Australia has become recognised for the range and talent of its musicians, composers, conductors and celebrities in general associated with the music industry

Linda Burney MLA Canturbury and Rick Farley at home, Marrickville

Hon. Linda Jean Burney

Family, friends, fanatics and foes (and everything in between!)

The Hon. Linda Jean Burney MP (b. 1957), a Wiradjuri woman, is the first First Nations person elected to the New South Wales parliament, and the first First Nations woman to serve in the federal House of Representatives.

2 portraits in the collection

Rachel Ward and Bryan Brown (detail), 2006 (printed 2020) © Peter Brew-Bevan

Australian Love stories

Previous exhibition, 2021

Reconnect and reflect with our new major exhibition, Australian Love Stories (in real life!) as we explore love, affection and connection in all its guises.

Decorative portrait – Len Lye, c.1925 by Rayner Hoff (1894-1937)

Presence and Absence

Portrait Sculpture in Australia

Previous exhibition, 2003

This exhibition focuses on exploring national and communal identity through sculptural production in Australia, from the early decades of settlement through to the present day

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

Thomas Heathfield Carrick

Thomas Heathfield Carrick, miniature painter, grew up in Carlisle, where he trained and traded as a chemist, painting miniatures in his spare time.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir James Reading Fairfax KT

William B. Latimer, W B Latimer Photo Art Studio

James Reading Fairfax (1834 -1919) was the second of John Fairfax's sons to join him in business.

1 portrait in the collection

Reverend Nathaniel Kinsman, c. 1880

Purchased 2013

William Pidgeon

William Edwin 'Wep' Pidgeon, cartoonist, illustrator and painter was born in Paddington and studied art at the JS Watkins School and East Sydney Technical College.

2 portraits in the collection

James Horan

Irish-born James Horan (b. 1976) is an editorial and advertising photographer whose many clients include banks, hotel chains, medical supply companies, museums and charities such as The Salvos and The Smith Family.

1 portrait in the collection

Hera Roberts

Hera Roberts (1892-1969) was a painter, illustrator, designer, commercial artist and milliner.

1 portrait in the collection

François Bonneville

Previous exhibition, 2024

François Bonneville was one of the leading French engravers of the period of the Revolution, selling his works at the Imprimérie du Cercle Social on the Rue du Théâtre-Francais until 1797, and then, until 1814, at successive premises on the Rue Saint Jacques.

2 portraits in the collection

Gallery Two

London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company

The London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company was founded in 1854 by George Swan Nottage.

2 portraits in the collection

Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Adrian Feint

Adrian Feint (1894-1971) studied at the Sydney Art School with Julian Ashton after having served in the AIF in France and Belgium in World War I, during which he was praised for gallantry.

1 portrait in the collection

Arthur Horner

Arthur Horner was born in Malvern, Victoria, and attended Sydney High School and the National Art School.

1 portrait in the collection

Georg von Neumayer, c. 1860

Johnstone & Co

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Garry Shead

Magazine article by Magda Keaney, 2002

Born in Sydney, Garry Shead studied at the National Art School in 1961-2.

4 portraits in the collection

The Final Frontier

Magda Keaney talks with Montalbetti+Campbell about their photographic portrait of Australian astronaut Andy Thomas.

Jill Ker Conway, 1987

Sarah Belchetz-Swenson

Gift of an anonymous donor 2001

Reutlinger Studios

The Reutlinger Studios operated in Paris from 1850 to 1937, under the direction of Charles, Emile and Leopold Reutlinger respectively.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Colin Syme AK

Sir Colin Syme AK (1903-1986) was chairman of BHP from 1952 to1971. Born in Perth, he attended Scotch College in Claremont, the universities of Perth and Melbourne and the University of New South Wales before becoming a solicitor in the Melbourne firm of Hedderwick, Fookes and Alston in 1923.

1 portrait in the collection

Russell Drysdale

Sir Russell Drysdale AC (1912-1981), painter, developed eye trouble in 1929, and had to leave boarding school for the first of many eye treatments which left him fearful of total blindness.

6 portraits in the collection

2021 Annual Appeal

In 2021 the Annual Appeal was focussed on Peter Brew-Bevan's portraits of athletes Turia Pitt, Leisel Jones OAM and Ellie Cole OAM.

Molly Meldrum

Ian 'Molly' Meldrum AM (b. 1946) has a long history of involvement and influence in the Australian rock music industry.

1 portrait in the collection

Mervyn Horton

Mervyn Horton AM (1917-1983), editor, art writer and entrepreneur, founded the journal Art and Australia in 1963 and edited it until his death in 1983.

1 portrait in the collection

Falk Studios

Falk Studios was established by Melbourne-born photographer H. Walter Barnett in George Street, Sydney in 1885.

5 portraits in the collection

Thomas Purves

Thomas Purves (1909-1969), known as Tam, founded the Australian Galleries in Smith Street, Collingwood, Melbourne with his wife Anne in 1956.

1 portrait in the collection

Mary Moore

Mary Moore (b. 1957) is a West Australian portrait artist. She began formal art training in Claremont at the age of fifteen, later attending the Western Australian Institute of Technology and Royal College of Art, London.

4 portraits in the collection

Portrait 54

Spring 2016

Magazine article by Johanna McMahon, 2019

Explore an Indian treasure trove, photography by Robert McFarlane and Nan Goldin, Michael Taylor's expressionist paintings, the Great War portraits, and more!

Dupain detective

Johanna McMahon revels in history and mystery in pursuit of a suite of unknown portrait subjects.

Stella Bowen

Stella Bowen, painter and writer, grew up in Adelaide, where she studied with Margaret Preston.

1 portrait in the collection

Ethel Anderson and her daughter, Bethia, c. 1912

G.W. Lawrie

Gift of Mrs SM Asplin 2011

Sir Joshua Reynolds

Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), acknowledged as one of the world's great portraitists, was master of portraits in the 'Grand Manner', replete with moral and heroic symbolism.

3 portraits in the collection

Hera Roberts, 1936

Gift of Rex Dupain 2003. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Paul Haefliger, 1974

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

Angus Trumble with Portrait of Sir Joseph Banks by Thomas Phillips

Banksia and grevillea

Portraits can render honour to remarkable men and women, but there are other ways.

Athol Shmith, 1985

Michel Lawrence

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999

Kristin Headlam

Kristin Headlam, born in Launceston, completed a BA at the University of Melbourne in the 1970s and studied painting at the Victorian College of the Arts in 1980-1981.

2 portraits in the collection

Adrian Feint, 1939

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Richard King 2008
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Major General Alan Stretton, 1987

Gwendolene Pratt

Magazine article by Esther Agostino, 2015

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Stretton family 1999
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Amy Johnson wearing a woollen suit from the collection of flight clothes designed by Madame Schiaparelli for her solo flight from London to Cape Town, 1938 unknown photographer

Air wear

Aviation carried women’s roles in society to greater heights – fashion followed suit.

Ready , set... shoot

Magazine article by Christine Clark, 2006

The exhibition Flash: Australian Athletes in Focus offers various interpretations of sporting men and women by five Australian photographers.

William Barak at work on the drawing ‘Ceremony’ at Coranderrk

The Reflecting Eye

Portraits of Australian Visual Artists

Touring exhibition, 1996

As the first National Portrait Gallery travelling exhibition, The reflecting eye: portraits of Australian visual artists represents an important milestone in the history of Australia's National Portrait Gallery.

Livingston Hopkins

Livingston Hopkins, cartoonist, was born in Ohio and fought in the American Civil War before beginning his cartooning career in New York.

3 portraits in the collection

Roderick Shaw

Roderick Shaw (1915-1992) is perhaps best known for his worker paintings of the social realist school, such as Cable Layers (in the Art Gallery of NSW).

2 portraits in the collection

William Dobell, 1943

Portrait, ciment fondu, patinated

Gift of Danina Anderson, daughter of Max Dupain 2017.
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Anthony Dattilo Rubbo, 1935

Arthur Murch

Purchased 2000

Self portrait in green hues, c. 1962

Roland Wakelin

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Philip Bacon AM 2001
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Damien Parer

Damien Parer (1912-1944), photographer and filmmaker, became friends with Max Dupain in the thirties, often taking photographs with him on excursions to the beach and bush.

2 portraits in the collection

Ursula Hoff AO OBE

Johnstone O'Shannessy & Co

Ursula Hoff AO OBE (1909–2005) was a curator, art historian and academic.

1 portrait in the collection

Nicholas Chevalier, c. 1867

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

William Dobell, 1942

Previous exhibition, 2006

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Richard King 2008
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Australian Visit

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.

Gai Waterhouse AO

Archived media releases 2022

Gai Waterhouse AO, thoroughbred racehorse trainer, is the daughter of legendary trainer Tommy Smith.

1 portrait in the collection

The Brougham

Beards

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.

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 Colonel (Portrait of Walter Withers)

The Colonel (Portrait of Walter Withers), 1896

David Davies

Purchased 2009

Peter Russell-Clarke

Peter Russell-Clarke, cook, started his career as a freelance cartoonist, working for advertising agencies in Australia and overseas.

1 portrait in the collection

Dame Mary Gilmore, 1961

Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

Roy de Maistre CBE

Roy de Maistre (Roi (Leroy) de Mestre) CBE (1894-1968), painter, studied music at the Sydney Conservatorium, but was also a student at the RAS School with Dattilo Rubbo and later the Sydney Art School with Julian Ashton.

1 portrait in the collection

The Lambert

Beards

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.

Captain James King

James King (c. 1750-1784), naval officer, was born in Lancashire and educated at Clitheroe Grammar School before entering the navy in 1762.

1 portrait in the collection

Hal Hattam

Previous exhibition, 2002

Harold 'Hal' Hattam (1913-1994), doctor, artist and art collector, came to Australia from his native Scotland at the age of seven.

1 portrait in the collection

Angela Belgiorno-Zegna, 2001 by Salvatore Zofrea

Intimate Portraits

Intimate Portraits is an exhibition of paintings, drawings and prints that explore the less public side of portraiture

Hon. William McLellan

William McLellan (1831–1906), miner and parliamentarian, served on the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1859 to 1877, and again between 1883 and 1897.

1 portrait in the collection

Errol Flynn

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

Brian Fitzpatrick

N Schiavonetti after Thomas Phillips

Brian Fitzpatrick (1905-1965) was educated at state schools in regional Victoria and Melbourne before gaining his BA from Melbourne University in 1925.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait of Sir Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society

Portrait of Sir Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society, 1812

Portrait, line engraving on paper

Purchased 2010

James Moorhouse

James Moorhouse (1826-1915), Anglican bishop, had an exceptionally distinguished career and publication record before he came from England to Melbourne to succeed Charles Perry.

1 portrait in the collection

Livingston Hopkins, n.d.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Ursula Hoff, 1994

Francis Reiss

Purchased 2004

Tom Roberts, 1920

Alice Mills

Gift of Gerard Vaughan 2001

Damien Parer, c. 1939

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint on cardboard

Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

Self portrait, 2004

Peter Russell-Clarke

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Self portrait, 1894

Livingston Hopkins

Portrait, etching on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Ross A Field 2008

Hugo at home (Hugo Weaving), 2011

Nicholas Harding

Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family 2012

Vali Myers, 2001

Eva Collins

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003

Sir Joseph Banks, 1802

William Ridley

Portrait, oil on canvas laid on board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Gina and Ted Gregg 2010

Sir James Reading Fairfax, 1898

Tom Roberts

Gift of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Sir George Ferguson Bowen, c. 1873

Bardwell's Royal Studio

Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Barry Sullivan, c. 1863

Davies & Co

Purchased 2018

Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool

Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl Liverpool, Lord Hawkesbury (1770–1828), statesman, was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1812 to 1827.

2 portraits in the collection

Anthony Dattilo Rubbo

Portrait, drypoint on wove paper

Anthony Dattilo Rubbo (1870-1955) was born in Naples and received classical art training in Italy.

1 portrait in the collection

Andrew Southall, 1992

Rick Amor

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

Literary lovers’ life liaison

Lust

Desire drives forbidden love

Damien Parer, 1937

Gift of Danina Dupain Anderson 2017. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Hal Hattam, 1960

Fred Williams

Previous exhibition, 2003

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Hattam family in memory of Hal and Kate Hattam 2006
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Max Dupain

The Vintage Years

During his long and distinguished career Max Dupain took thousands of photographs of people

Justin O'Brien

Justin O'Brien (1917-1996) was one of the major Australian artists of his generation.

3 portraits in the collection

A Goldfields Member "The Dove of Ararat" [The Hon. William McLellan M.L.A], 1874

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

Mabel Forrest

Mabel Forrest (née Mills, 1872–1935), writer, was born near Yandilla on the Darling Downs and grew up on various cattle stations in the district, publishing her first poem at age ten.

1 portrait in the collection

Drusilla Modjeska

Drusilla Modjeska (b. 1946), writer, feminist and academic, was born in England and moved to Australia in 1971 after several years in Papua New Guinea.

1 portrait in the collection

New Australians bring creative wealth

Nearest & Dearest

Melbourne’s iconic culture-shapers

William Mora

William Mora (1953–2023), art dealer and gallerist, was the eldest son of artist Mirka Mora and restauranteur and gallery owner Georges Mora.

1 portrait in the collection

David Davies

David Davies began studying art at the School of Mines and Industries in his birthplace, Ballarat.

1 portrait in the collection

Two grounps of three people standing in a studio with walls and shelves filled with artworks

Arts Project Australia

Artists and Collectives

Arts Project Australia is a creative social enterprise based in Naarm/Melbourne that supports neurodiverse artists, promoting their work and advocating for inclusion within contemporary arts practice.

George and Jemima Billet with family, c. 1852

C.H.T. Costantini

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on card

Purchased 2016

Ada Crossley, c. 1900

Rotary Photo Company Ltd

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Roger Neill 2009

First Ladies

Significant Australian Women 1913–2013

Previous exhibition, 2013

First Ladies profiles women who have achieved noteworthy firsts over the past 100 years.

Matthew Burnett, c. 1865

Henry Samuel Sadd

Portrait, steel engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

William Dobell, Potts Point, Sydney, 1960 (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.

Hugo Weaving AO

Hugo Weaving AO (b. 1960), actor, spent his childhood in England, Australia and South Africa before returning to live in Australia in 1976.

1 portrait in the collection

Anne Hyde, Duchess of York and King James II

Sir Peter Lely

Robert McFarlane

Robert McFarlane (1942–2023), photographer, was born in Glenelg, South Australia.

31 portraits in the collection

Julia Margaret Cameron

Julia Margaret Cameron was of the most important photographers of the nineteenth century.

1 portrait in the collection

Mungo MacCallum

Mungo MacCallum (1941–2020) was one of Australia's best-known political journalists.

1 portrait in the collection

Fanny Jane Marlay, c. 1841

Portrait, watercolour on ivory

Purchased 2013

Frances Perry

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2002

Frances Perry (1815-1892) met Charles Perry through her brother, a student at Cambridge, and after they married, the couple lived at St Paul’s Cambridge, where he was vicar, for six years.

1 portrait in the collection

Courage, Self-analysis and Skill

The story behind George Lambert's Self-portrait with Gladioli.

H. Walter Barnett

H. Walter Barnett (1862-1934) was a leading portrait photographer of the late Victorian, Edwardian and interwar periods.

12 portraits in the collection

Portrait of Mr Frank Packer, 1956

Barthélemy Roger after Nicolas-Martin Petit

Gift of the Packer family 2006

Gnoung-a-gnoung-a Mour-re-mour-ga (dit Collins)

Gnoung-a-gnoung-a Mour-re-mour-ga (dit Collins), 1807-1817

Purchased 2009

The sitter (Drusilla Modjeska), 2001

Jo Bertini

Portrait, platinum photograph on printed card

Purchased with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2002

Arthur Streeton, Nora Streeton (nee Clench) and Pat, the dog

Arthur Streeton, Nora Streeton (nee Clench) and Pat, the dog, c. 1909

H. Walter Barnett

Purchased 2001

Ethel Anderson

Magazine article by Barbara Blackman AO, 2003

Ethel Anderson (née Mason, 1883-1958), writer and artist, was an important figure in the Sydney modern art scene of the 1920s and 30s.

2 portraits in the collection

All in the Family

In 2000, Barbara Blackman donated a portrait of her close friends - poet Judith Wright, her husband Jack McKinney and their daughter Meredith - painted by Charles Blackman.

Emily Fairfax

Emily Ross (née Fairfax) (1832-1871) was the eldest child of newspaper publisher John Fairfax - who founded the Fairfax news dynasty in Sydney in 1841 - and his wife Sarah.

1 portrait in the collection

Archbishop James Goold, c. 1870

Archibald McDonald

Portrait, platinum photograph on original studio backing card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Inside Heide’s lives

It's Complicated

Happiness to heartache

Arthur Streeton, c. 1890

H. Walter Barnett

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

The Honourable Chief Justice Susan Kiefel AC

The Honourable Chief Justice Susan Kiefel AC, 2018

Yvonne East

Portrait, oil on linen

Gift of the artist 2019 acknowledging Herbert Smith Freehills for supporting the creation of the portrait

Barbara Blackman, c. 1953

Gift of Barbara Blackman 2004

Master Molteno, c. 1866

Townsend Duryea

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Beadle, Winchester, 1823 by John Dempsey

Beadles, bellmen and bumbles

Portrait, oil on cardboard

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

Portrait of Alan Marshall, 1955

Lina Bryans

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999

Mike Brown

Mike Brown (1938-1997) artist, was a participant (with Ross Crothall and Colin Lanceley) in the 1962 Annandale Imitation Realists exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art and Design, Melbourne.

1 portrait in the collection

Madame Melba, 1922

Harold Cazneaux

The Photographic Society of Victoria, Melbourne

Purchased 2015

Thomas Pearce, c. 1878

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite on card

Purchased 2010

Study for self portrait, c. 1965

Jean Appleton

Gift of Laurie Curley OAM and Mrs Robyn Curley 2012

The Tichborne Claimant (Arthur Orton), c. 1872

Maull & Co Photographers

Percy Leason's Aboriginal Portraits

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

William Johnson (1873—1948) by Percy Leason

Recognition

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

George Lambert

George Lambert (1873–1930), artist, was born in St Petersburg and lived in Germany and England before coming to Australia with his family at the age of fourteen.

7 portraits in the collection

Harry Williams

Harry Williams (b. 1951) is a Wiradjuri man and the first Indigenous footballer to represent Australia at international level.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker OM

Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker OM GCSI CB MD FRS (1817-1911), botanist, explorer and medical doctor, visited Australia as a member of James Clark Ross's Antarctic expedition of 1839 to 1843.

2 portraits in the collection

Robert Emerson Curtis, 1943

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Richard King 2008
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Gooseberry, widow of King Bungaree, 1836

William Fernyhough

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint on gessoboard

Gift of Dr Robert Edwards AO 1999. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Rachel, 2021

Thea Anamara Perkins

Purchased 2022

Francis Russell Nixon, c. 1845-1855

an unknown artist after George Richmond

Portrait, copperplate engraving, heightened with China white on buff paper

Purchased 2009

Darrell Sibosado

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on cabinet card

Darrell Sibosado is a Bard man of the Lombadina Community, in the West Kimberley region of Western Australia.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir John Hay, 1887

Freeman Brothers

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Rosalie Kunoth, 1953 printed 1958

Contemporary women artists make Australian history

Purchased 2016

Marilyn Ball, Albatross, 2018 (detail) by Linde Ivimey

So Fine

Previous exhibition, 2018

This exhibition features new works from ten women artists reinterpreting and reimagining elements of Australian history, enriching the contemporary narrative around Australia’s history and biography, reflecting the tradition of storytelling in our country.

A Tribute to William Dobell

Previous exhibition, 1999

Adapted from A Tribute to William Dobell an exhibition presented by the Australian National University's Drill Hall Gallery in association with the Sir William Dobell Art Foundation, The National Gallery of Australia, and the Australian War Memorial. Dobell is of course, celebrated for his achievements in portraiture, winning the Archibald prize (1943, 1948 and 1959), the Wynne Prize (1948), and representing Australia at the 1954 Venice Biennale. Curator Mary Eagle concludes her essay in the catalogue of the exhibition thus, "Overall I see a dissonance in Dobell’s art and life

William - Aspendale, 1966 (printed 2015)

Lazar Krum

Gift of the artist 2015

Francois Peron

Jean Coutant after Jacques Etienne Victor Arago

François Péron (1775-1810), naturalist and explorer, served as a soldier from 1792 to 1794, in which period he was imprisoned and lost the sight of one eye.

6 portraits in the collection

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

Portrait, line engraving on paper

Purchased 2015

In the most correct style

Nearest & Dearest

Desirable outcomes, undesirable origins

Self portrait, 2006

Portrait, oil on board

Gift of Dr Phillip Dutton and Valerie Dutton 2013. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

2012-13 Acquisition Fund

The Circle of Friends Acquisition Fund for 2012 was dedicated to purchasing a portrait of David Malouf by Rick Amor.

Thea Anamara Perkins

Thea Anamara Perkins (b. 1992) is an Arrernte/Kalkadoon artist whose practice incorporates portraiture and landscape to depict authentic representations of First Nations peoples and Country.

1 portrait in the collection

Jane Windeyer

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

Dame Mabel Brookes, c. 1955

Sir William Dargie CBE

Gift of Rodney Davidson AO OBE 2014. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Sir Rupert Hamer AC KCMG ED

Nicolas Maurin, Alexandre Sixdeniers

Sir Rupert ‘Dick’ Hamer AC KCMG (1916-2004) was premier of Victoria from 1972 to 1981.

1 portrait in the collection

Jacques Arago, c. 1830s

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009

Sir John Eccles, 1959

Pam MacFarlane

Gift of an anonymous donor 2007

Michael with beetroot sprouting, 2008

Janet Dawson

Purchased 2015

Captain John Lort Stokes, c. 1841

Portrait, watercolour on ivory

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

Captain James King, engraving after Webber, 1784

Francesco Bartolozzi after John Webber

Self Portraits in Australia

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Robert Oatley AO 2007

To Look Within

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

Wenten Rubuntja AM

Wenten Rubuntja AM (1923–2005) was an Arrernte law man, committee and board member, artist, historian, storyteller and intermediary.

2 portraits in the collection

Sir Robert Gibson

Portrait, oil on canvas laid on board

Sir Robert Gibson GBE (1863-1934) trained in design and drafting in Glasgow, where he began work as a designer at an iron company; he soon became manager of its London office.

1 portrait in the collection

Emily Fairfax, 1870

William Macleod

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd 2002
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

George Judah Cohen, 1925

George Lambert

Gift of the National Australia Bank 2002

Sir Richard Owens

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2003

Sir Richard Owen (1804–1892), naturalist, anatomist and palaeontologist, was born in Lancaster and apprenticed to surgeon-apothecaries there before completing his studies in medicine in Edinburgh and London.

1 portrait in the collection

Facing Facts

Former NPG Director, Andrew Sayers describes the 1922 Self-portrait with Gladioli by George Lambert.

Maria Polly Cutmore, 2021

Jessica Hromas

Portrait, pigment print on Hahnemühle photorag metallic paper

Purchased 2022

Friendship’s rhyme and reason

Nearest & Dearest

Poetic trio

Jan Senbergs AM

Jan Senbergs AM (1939-2024) came to Australia from Latvia in 1950. He studied at the Melbourne School of Printing and Graphic Arts, where he was influenced by Leonard French.

2 portraits in the collection

The first Australian first-class cricket team to tour England and North America

The first Australian first-class cricket team to tour England and North America, 1878

A & G Taylor

Previous exhibition, 2010

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

Australian of the Year

Inspiring a Nation

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

Portrait 63

Winter 2019

Rod McNicol's method and motivation, 19th century Indigenous peoples, Barrie Cassidy on Bob Hawke, five generations of the Kang family from Korea and more.

Geoff Cousins, 2017

David Naseby

Portrait, pastel on paper laid on canvas

Gift of Geoff Cousins AM 2007

Portrait of Mrs Sarah Fairfax, c. 1864

Edwin Dalton

Gift of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

François Péron, c. 1805

Conrad Westermayr after Jean Henri Cless

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on studio mount

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Mary Windeyer, c. 1891

Freeman Brothers

Gift of J.B. Windeyer 2018

Sir James McCulloch KCMG

Sir James McCulloch KCMG (1819–1893) served four separate terms as premier of Victoria between 1863 and 1877.

1 portrait in the collection

Vali Myers

Vali Myers (1930-2003) artist, vagabond and agitator, was born near Box Hill and moved to Melbourne at the age of eleven.

1 portrait in the collection

Chips Rafferty MBE

Chips Rafferty MBE (1909–1971), screen actor, was born John Goffage in Broken Hill and nicknamed 'Chips' as a boy.

5 portraits in the collection

Shahleena Musk

Portrait, oil and hand-stitching on canvas

Shahleena Musk is Larrakia lawyer from Darwin. She was the first Aboriginal person to graduate from the Northern Territory University (now Charles Darwin University) and to be admitted to the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory.

1 portrait in the collection

James Morrison with flugelhorn, 1994

Kerrie Lester

Purchased 1999. Courtesy of the Corrigan family and Stuart Purves.

Lord Florey, c. 1966

Louis Kahan AO

Portrait, fibre-tipped pen on paper

Purchased 1998

Lord John Russell, 1844

Samuel Bellin after Thomas Heathfield Carrick

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

Shahleena Musk, c. 2000

Penny Tweedie

Gift of the artist 2004

Jill Ker Conway AC

Jill Ker Conway AC (1934-2018), academic, writer and company director, was born in Hillston in western New South Wales and spent her early years on her father's sheep station, Coorain, which was so isolated that she was seven years old before she saw another girl.

1 portrait in the collection

Mark Strizic

A Journey in Photography

This exhibition traces the creative output of nearly 50 years by one of Australia's landmark living photographers.

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

Donors

$10,000 - $49,999

Jane Windeyer, n.d.

Madame Praeger

'Self Portrait with Gladioli'

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Windeyer family 2012

George Lambert

An examination of the life and times of George Lambert through the gesture and pose in his self portrait.

Jason Yat-sen Li

Jason Yat-Sen Li (b. 1972) was born to parents who came to Australia from China in 1959.

1 portrait in the collection

Linda Burney MLA Canturbury and Rick Farley at home, Marrickville, 2003

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

George Moore, 1957

Ern McQuillan OAM

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003

Barbara Blackman, 2008

Gorgi Dimcevski

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Barbara Blackman 2009

Lady [Hannah] Lloyd Jones OBE

Hannah Benyon Lloyd Jones OBE (1901–1982) was the third wife of Sir Charles Lloyd Jones, the chairman of David Jones from 1920 until his death in 1958.

3 portraits in the collection

Frank Hurley OBE

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2008

Frank Hurley (1885-1962), photographer, first made his name on Douglas Mawson's Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911-14.

2 portraits in the collection

Moving in creative circles

Harold Cazneaux's portraits of influential Sydneysiders included Margaret Preston and Ethel Turner, both important figures in the development of ideas about Australian identity and culture.

Frederick E. Du Faur

Frederick Eccleston du Faur (1832–1915), environmentalist, public servant and arts patron, came to Australia from his native London in 1853.

1 portrait in the collection

Judy Cassab AO CBE

Judy Cassab AO CBE (1920–2015) was one of Australia's best-loved, most successful and prolific portrait painters.

22 portraits in the collection

William Hardy Wilson

Magazine article by Gideon Haigh, 2009

William Hardy Wilson (1881-1955) - or Hardy Wilson, as he styled himself - is regarded as one of the most significant and visionary Australian architects of the twentieth century.

1 portrait in the collection

Top shot that

Gideon Haigh discusses portraits of Australian cricketers from the early 20th century

Nancy Menetrey

Nancy Menetrey (née Wilkinson) (1924-2024) was born in Sydney in 1924.

1 portrait in the collection

Great stylists: Caruso, Melba, Pavarotti, Bonynge and Sutherland

Dame Nellie Melba GBE

Previous exhibition, 2009

Dame Nellie Melba GBE (1861–1931), world-renowned soprano, was born Helen Porter Mitchell in Melbourne.

8 portraits in the collection

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2009

In its second year at the National Portrait Gallery, and for the first time touring to other venues, the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2009 continues to present surprising perspectives on the nature of contemporary portrait photography.

Barbara Blackman AO

Magazine article by Magda Keaney, 2003

Barbara Blackman AO (b. 1928), writer, poet and arts patron, was only fifteen when the ABC Weekly published one of her poems.

5 portraits in the collection

Mrs Cameron and the V&A

In March 2003 Magda Keaney travelled to London to join the photography section of the Victoria & Albert Museum for three months.

Jean Appleton

Jean Appleton (1911–2003), painter and art teacher, studied at the East Sydney Technical College, completing a diploma in drawing and illustration in 1932.

5 portraits in the collection

Jan Senbergs, 2015

Jacqueline Mitelman

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Wayne Williams 2015

A Victorian Knight "Thrice Chief Secretary" [Sir James McCulloch K.C.M.G.], 1874

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

Roi de Mestre (Roy de Maistre), c. 1930

Jean Shepeard

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2002

Wenten Rubuntja, 1998

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

Wenten Rubuntja, 2001

Infamy, the macabre & the portrait

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

Sideshow Alley

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.

James Alipius Goold

James Alipius Goold (1812-1886), first Catholic bishop and archbishop of Melbourne, volunteered for service in New South Wales having studied in Rome and Perugia.

2 portraits in the collection

Chips Rafferty, c. 1945

Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

Jan Senbergs, 1976

Keith Looby

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Padraic McGuinness 2001
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Annual Appeal

Listed by year

Catholic clergymen from the Diocese of Adelaide

Catholic clergymen from the Diocese of Adelaide, c. 1862

Stephen Edward Nixon

Purchased 2018

Hetti Perkins

Previous exhibition, 2023

Hetti Perkins (b. 1965), Arrernte and Kalkadoon curator, cultural adviser, writer and activist, began her career at the Sydney gallery of Aboriginal Arts Australia before joining the Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Cooperative as a curator.

1 portrait in the collection

Time and light

In Gallery Seven

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.

Kyle Vander-Kuyp

Magazine article by Paul Moorhouse, 2007

Kyle Vander-Kuyp (b. 1971) is a Worimi and Yuin man and Australia's greatest ever 110 m hurdler.

2 portraits in the collection

"Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?", 1956

Pop goes the preconception

A National Portrait Gallery, London exhibition redefines portraiture, shifting the focus towards a new perspective on Pop Art.

Lloyd Rees at the Rock in 1975, 1984

Roderick Shaw

Portrait, oil and oil pastel on canvas

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Hall of Mirrors

Anne Zahalka Portraits 1987-2007

Previous exhibition, 2007

Hall of Mirrors: Anne Zahalka Portraits 1987-2007 explores the thread of portraiture through the artist's prolific career, now spanning more than 20 years.

Mungo MacCallum, press gallery cricket, 1973

Frank Hinder

Portrait, fibre-tipped pen on paper

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

Mary Windeyer, 1850s

Portrait, watercolour and gouache on ivory

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

The Huxleys

Will Huxley grew up in the suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, and Garrett Huxley was raised on the Gold Coast, Queensland.

3 portraits in the collection

Sir Frank Packer

Sir Douglas Frank Hewson Packer KBE (1906-1974), media proprietor, grew up in Sydney and became a cadet journalist on the Daily Guardian, owned by his father RC Packer, in 1923.

2 portraits in the collection

The World of Thea Proctor

The World of Thea Proctor is the Portrait Gallery's second major biographical exhibition - that is, the second exhibition to focus exclusively on the life and work of a single individual

Mary Windeyer

Carlo Pellegrini, Vanity Fair Magazine

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

Men of the Day No.19 "A great Med'cine-Man among the Inqui-ring Redskins" (Thomas Henry Huxley), 1871

Previous exhibition, 2019

Purchased 2015

Primed

Some Prime Ministers

Seventeen of Australia’s thirty prime ministers to date are represented in the contrasting sizes, moods and mediums of these portraits.

Joseph Dalton Hooker, c. 1880s

Magazine article by Gael Newton, 2003

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009

Vintage Max

Gael Newton delves into the life and art of renowned Australian photographer, Max Dupain.

Lady Primrose Potter AC

Lady Primrose Potter AC was born in Sydney in 1931 and lives in Melbourne.

1 portrait in the collection

Jack Thompson AM

Carrington Photo Galleries

Jack Thompson AM (b. 1940) is an actor and the face of the 1970s Australian film renaissance.

3 portraits in the collection

Clara Crosbie, aged 12 years, now on exhibition at the Australian Waxworks

Clara Crosbie, aged 12 years, now on exhibition at the Australian Waxworks, c. 1885

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on resin-coated paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John McPhee 2018

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.

Harry Williams, 2005

Sahlan Hayes

Purchased 2006

Arthur Boyd Portraits

Previous exhibition, 1999

This is the first in a series of National Portrait Gallery exhibitions to survey the portraits painted by artists who are not thought of, primarily, as portrait painters

Brian Croser AO, 1998 (printed 2001)

Kate Gollings

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, selenium toned on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2001

Mirror With A Memory

Photographic Portraiture in Australia

Previous exhibition, 2000

This is the first major exhibition to examine photographic portraiture in Australia, from its beginnings in the early 1840s to the present day

Sir Colin Syme, 1970

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

Sir John Hay

Sir John Hay (1816-1892), pastoralist and politician, graduated in law in his native Scotland before emigrating to New South Wales with his new wife, Mary, in 1838.

1 portrait in the collection

Dame Nellie Melba,

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on cabinet card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2007

Garrett Huxley

Garrett Huxley (b. 1973) was born in Melbourne and raised on the Gold Coast.

3 portraits in the collection

Will Huxley

Archived media releases 2015

Will Huxley (b. 1982) was born in Bath, England, emigrating with his family at the age of seven to grow up in the suburbs of Perth.

3 portraits in the collection

Rod McNicol

18 June 2015

John David Armstrong

John David Armstrong (1857–1943) was a sideshow and vaudeville performer known as ‘The Australian Tom Thumb’.

2 portraits in the collection

Paul Gaimard

Paul Gaimard (1796-1858), naturalist and naval surgeon, joined the French navy after distinguishing himself at the naval medical school at Toulon.

1 portrait in the collection

Gary Heery

Photographic Portraits from 19th Century Australia

Gary Heery, photographer, was born in Sydney, where he studied sociology and psychology at the University of New South Wales.

1 portrait in the collection

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.

R. M. Williams AO CMG

A Portrait of Colonial Australia

RM (Reginald Murray) Williams AO CBE (1908-2003), saddlery, boot and clothing manufacturer, miner and author, moved to Adelaide from his birthplace near the Flinders Rangers when he was 10.

1 portrait in the collection

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

Stan Grant

Barthélemy Roger after Nicolas-Martin Petit

Stan Grant (b. 1963), a proud Wiradjuri man born in Griffith, New South Wales, grew up wanting to be a journalist.

1 portrait in the collection

Cour-rou-bari-gal, published 1807

Portrait, engraving, hand coloured on paper

Purchased with funds provided by Ross A Field 2008

Mervyn Horton, 1964

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint and oil on canvas

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

Nicolas-Martin Petit

Nicholas-Martin Petit was born in Paris, the son of a fan maker, and learned graphic art in the studio of Jacques Louis David.

9 portraits in the collection

Gamaliel Butler

Magazine article by Dr Grace Blakeley-Carroll, 2015

Gamaliel Butler (1783–1852), lawyer and free settler, emigrated to Van Diemen’s Land in 1824 with his wife, Sarah (née Paine, 1787–1870).

2 portraits in the collection

The Wentworths – Hidden in Plain Sight

Grace Carroll on the gendered world of the Wentworths.

Martha Sarah Butler, c. 1845

Thomas Griffiths Wainewright

Portrait, watercolour, gouache and pencil on paper

Purchased 2009

Janet Dawson

George Beldam, Sun Electric Engraving Company

Janet Dawson (b. 1935), painter, printer, teacher and stage designer, is known for her contribution to abstract art in Australia.

10 portraits in the collection

Victor Trumper, 1905

Portrait, photogravure on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009

Sketch for portrait of Justin O'Brien, 1980

Bryan Westwood

Portrait, oil with fibre-tipped pen underdrawing on composition board

Gift of the Margaret Olley Art Trust 2002

Richard Henry Horne, mid 1860s

Batchelder & Company Photo

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

William Birdwood KCMG KCSI KCB DSO

William Birdwood KCMG KCSI KCB DSO, 1st Baron Birdwood of Anzac and Totnes (1865-1951) commanded the Australian Corps for much of the First World War.

1 portrait in the collection

Self portrait, c. 1911

Frank Hurley OBE

Purchased 2005

Ralph Sutton

Ralph Sutton (1908-1967), Methodist minister, trained in Sydney, was ordained in 1935 and began his career in Mosman Methodist Church.

1 portrait in the collection

Barry Tuckwell AC OBE

Barry Tuckwell AC OBE (1931-2020), horn soloist, conductor, teacher and author spent his early years in Melbourne, where he learned a variety of instruments including piano and violin.

1 portrait in the collection

George Perry

Magazine article by Tsering Hannaford, 2024

George William Perry (1824–1900) was born in London and arrived in Victoria via South Africa around 1852.

2 portraits in the collection

Self-portrait after ‘Allegory of Painting’, 2020 Tsering Hannaford

Why portraiture?

Tsering Hannaford reflects on her experiences, process and motivation for making portraits.

Reg Livermore, Pitt Street, Sydney, 1965 (printed 2020)

Purchased 2020

Rod McNicol

Five Years of National Portrait Gallery Commissions

Rod McNicol (b. 1946), photographic artist, studied photography at Prahran College in Melbourne, where he formed a close friendship with Athol Shmith.

1 portrait in the collection

Making Portraits

The considered matching of artist to subject has produced an amazing collection of unique and original works in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery

June Mendoza AO OBE

Previous exhibition, 2009

June Mendoza AO OBE (1924–2024) was born into a musical family in Melbourne and started sketching portraits while touring with her mother, a composer and pianist.

1 portrait in the collection

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

Vanity Fair Portraits

Photographs 1913-2008

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

David Unaipon

David Unaipon (1872-1967) writer, public speaker and inventor, was a Ngarrindjeri man, fourth of nine children of the evangelist James Ngunaitponi and his wife Nymbulda, both of whom were Yaraldi speakers.

1 portrait in the collection

David Lloyd Jones

David Lloyd Jones (1931–1961) was the great-grandson of the original David Jones – who founded the eponymous department store in Sydney in 1838 – and the eldest son of Sir Charles Lloyd Jones (1878–1958), who was chairman of David Jones Ltd from 1920 until his death.

1 portrait in the collection

John Gould

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2016

John Gould (1804–1881) is known as the ‘father of Australian ornithology’ for his Birds of Australia, published in seven volumes between 1840 and 1848.

1 portrait in the collection

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

Political profiles

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.

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.

Julian Meagher

Australian Athletes in Focus

Julian Meagher was born in Sydney in 1978 and studied part time at the Julian Ashton Art School before undertaking a Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery at the University of New South Wales.

1 portrait in the collection

Flash

Previous exhibition, 2006

Introduction The National Portrait Gallery’s photographic exhibition Flash: Australian Athletes in Focus explores various interpretations of Australian sporting men and women.

Tom Roberts

Tom Roberts (1856–1931), artist, came to Australia from England at the age of 13, but returned eight years later to study art in London.

9 portraits in the collection

John Russell

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell KG GCMG PC (1792 –1878) was Secretary of State for War and the Colonies from 1839 to 1841 and served twice as Prime Minister of Great Britain, in 1846-1852 and 1865-1866.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas Henry Huxley

Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895) travelled to Australia as a member of the expedition conducted by Owen Stanley on the Rattlesnake between 1846 and 1850.

2 portraits in the collection

Ron Mueck

Previous exhibition, 2020

Ron Mueck (b. 1958), sculptor, first attracted widespread attention in 1997, when his poignant work Dead Dad was featured in the landmark exhibition Sensation: Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection at the Royal Academy, London and subsequently shown in Berlin and New York.

1 portrait 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.

Thomas Sutcliffe Mort and his wife Theresa, c. 1847

an unknown artist, Thomas Wharton

Portrait, daguerreotype in a pinchbeck case

Purchased 2001

Uncommon Australians

The vision of Gordon and Marilyn Darling

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.

Frank Fenner AC CMG MBE, 2007

Jude Rae

Commissioned with funds provided by Mr Anthony Adair and Ms Karen MacLeod 2007

First Australian first-class cricket team

The ‘first Australian first-class cricket team to tour England and North America’ was in fact the second Australian cricket side to contest matches internationally (a team of Indigenous players having done so in 1868), but it is considered the first official national representative team to tour overseas.

1 portrait in the collection

Lady [Hannah] Lloyd Jones, c. 1930

E.O. Hoppé

Purchased 2013

Ethel Marian (Maie) Casey AC

Magazine article by Pamela Gray, 2002

Ethel Marian (Maie) Casey AC, Baroness Casey (1892-1983), chatelaine, artist, pilot and author, was born in Melbourne, the daughter of the Surgeon General, Sir Charles Ryan.

1 portrait in the collection

Michael Kimmelman

Michael Kimmelman, Chief Art Critic of The New York Times and author of Portraits: Talking with Artists at the Met, the Modern, the Louvre and Elsewhere, presented the National Portrait Gallery Third Anniversary Lecture on 2 March 2002. He was generously brought to Australia by the Gordon Darling Foundation and Qantas.

Adam’s Prize Apples

Magazine article by Pamela Gerrish Nunn, 2016

Pamela Gerrish Nunn explores New Zealand’s premium award for portraiture.

Clara Crosbie, c. 1885

Arthur William Burman

Gift of John McPhee 2018

Starry knight

Aircraft designer, pilot and entrepreneur, Sir Lawrence Wackett rejoins friends and colleagues on the walls of the National Portrait Gallery.

Dr Helen Caldicott

Magazine article by Inga Walton, 2022

Dr Helen Caldicott (b. 1938), physician, author and activist, was born Helen Broinowski in Melbourne and gained her degree in Medicine from the University of Adelaide in 1961.

1 portrait in the collection

Virginia Woolf, 1902 George Charles Beresford

Love my way

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

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.

Remembering Ursula

Garry Shead, Adrienne Levenson

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

Soffritto di Lucio, 2009

Portrait, oil on linen

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Lucio Galletto OAM 2012
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Leigh Bowery, 1984

Robyn Beeche

Gift of Claudia Hyles, Dr Christiane Lawin-Bruessel, Gwenda Matthews, Gael Newton, Anne O'Hehir, Susan Smith and Dominic Thomas in memory of our friend, Robyn Beeche 2016

William Saurin Lyster, mid to late 1860s

Davies & Co

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

In good company

Jean Appleton’s 1965 self portrait makes a fine addition to the National Portrait Gallery’s collection writes Joanna Gilmour.

Portrait Donors

Listed by year

John Cochran after Sir Thomas Lawrence

Lt. Genrl. the Rt Honble. Sir George Murray G.C.B., G.C.H. &c.

Lt. Genrl. the Rt Honble. Sir George Murray G.C.B., G.C.H. &c., 1838

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Study for Portrait of W S Robinson, 1952

Sir William Dobell OBE

Portrait, oil on board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2003

Barry Tuckwell, 1991

June Mendoza AO OBE

Portraits in the Landscape

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of David Tuckwell 2018

Open Air

Previous exhibition, 2008

Open Air is an exhibition of portraits of Australians in environments of particular significance to them.

Clifton Pugh

Australians

This exhibition offers a comprehensive display of Clifton Pugh's portraits revealing his development and growth from tonal paintings to a unique style that was in demand from politicians, artists, academics and Australian personalities.

Thomas Griffiths Wainewright

Thomas Griffiths Wainewright (1794-1847) is one of the most intriguing and talented figures in colonial Australian art.

4 portraits in the collection

Rosalie Kunoth-Monks OAM

Rosalie Kunoth-Monks OAM (1937-2022), Arrernte and Anmatjere woman, Aboriginal activist, former actress and nun, was born at Artekerre soak on Utopia Cattle Station in the Northern Territory, the daughter of Allan and Ruby Kunoth.

2 portraits in the collection

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

18 October 2018

Previous exhibition, 2022

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.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 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.

Nicholas Harding

28 Portraits

Previous exhibition, 2017

Nicholas Harding: 28 portraits features paintings of Robert Drewe, John Bell and Hugo Weaving alongside gorgeously coloured recent oil portraits, delicate gouaches and bold ink and charcoal drawings.

Margaret Robertson, c. 1863

Archived media releases 2017

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Malcolm Robertson in memory of William Thomas Robertson 2018
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

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.

Finalists announced for National Photographic Portrait Prize

14 November 2018

The National Portrait Gallery would like to congratulate the forty finalists for the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2019.

Bathing woman, Bridlington, c.1825 by John Dempsey

Allow me to introduce...

Chefs, winemakers, providores

These full-length figures in watercolour, gouache and pencil date mostly from the 1820s, and almost all come from the collection of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart.

Masters of Fare

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.

Martin Sharp, 1986

Garry Shead

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2004
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Frances Perry, c. 1863

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2016

Purchased 2012

Dr Edward MacMahon, 1959 by William Dobell

Bill and Ted's excellent portrait.

Sarah Engledow on Messrs Dobell and MacMahon and the art of friendship.

Ada Jemima Crossley

Ada Jemima Crossley (1874–1929), singer, was one of several Australian-born divas to achieve an international reputation in the late nineteenth century.

2 portraits in the collection

2015-17 Acquisition Fund

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2006

From 2015 to 2017 the Acquisition Fund was focussed on Reg Richardson AM by Mitch Cairns, a finalist in the Archibald Prize 2014, and a great example of minimalist portraiture.

Mugshots

A toast to the acquisition of an unconventional new portrait of former Prime Minister, Stanley Melbourne Bruce.

Nellie Melba, 1898

Ernest Walter Histed

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Hattie Shepparde, 1872

Bardwell's Royal Studio

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Olivia Newton-John, 1978 (printed 2017)

Gary Heery

Purchased 2017

John Lort Stokes

John Lort Stokes (1812–1885), explorer, naval officer and surveyor, joined the navy at age twelve and age thirteen was assigned to HMS Beagle as a midshipman.

1 portrait in the collection

Captain W Kinghorne, 1834

Thomas James Lempriere

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2022

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by The Ian Potter Foundation 2007

Skyhooks (Red Symons, Bob Starkie, Shirley Strachan, Greg Macainsh, Freddie Strauks) in Parker’s studio, Fitzroy, 1975 David Parker

Cool cool world

Penelope Grist unpacks photographs by David Parker, who captured the phenomenal emergence of the 1970s and 80s Melbourne music scene.

Gustavus Brooke, c. 1865

Burman and Son

Portrait, albumen paper photograph on carte de visite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

The Burke and Wills Monument, 1869

Thomas Foster Chuck

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Percy Leason

Percy Leason, artist, illustrator and cartoonist, grew up in Victoria's Wimmera region and trained in the rudiments of art in Nhill.

1 portrait in the collection

Diana Pockley

Diana Pockley (née Longridge, 1913–2011), gardener, fundraiser and amateur historian, was born in Exeter, Devon, England and completed her secondary education in Brighton.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir George Hubert Wilkins

Sir George Hubert Wilkins (1888-1958), photographer, cinematographer, polar explorer and naturalist, spent his childhood on a farm in South Australia and became interested in photography while studying engineering and music at the University of Adelaide.

1 portrait in the collection

The fat of the land

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on paper

Sir Sidney Kidman (1857-1935) is inscribed in Australian legend as the ‘Cattle King’.

Edward John Eyre, 1867

Julia Margaret Cameron

Presented by Sir Roy Strong and the late Dr Julia Trevelyan Oman in memory of their friendship with Gordon Darling and Marilyn Darling 2006

Of jumpers and river gums, red

Magazine article by Diana O'Neil, 2016

Diana O’Neil on Noel Counihan’s vivid 1971 portrait of Alan Marshall.

Thomas Woolner

Magazine article by Sandra Bruce, 2022

Thomas Woolner, sculptor, studied first with the brothers Henry and William Behnes, painter and sculptor respectively, and later at the Royal Academy, at which he was to become professor of sculpture in his fifties.

5 portraits in the collection

Unboxed

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

A Singular Line

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2003

A newly acquired work by Stella Bowen adds to the National Portrait Gallery's growing collection of important Australian self-portraits.

Life class

Magazine article by Leonie Hellmers, 2004

Barbara Blackman reflects on her experiences as a life model.

C.H.T. Costantini

Charles Henry Theodore Costantini (also Constantine, Constantini and Costantine) was a Paris-born surgeon of Italian descent who was twice transported to the Australian colonies in the 1820s.

1 portrait in the collection

William Henry Harvey

Johnstone O'Shannessy & Co

William Henry Harvey (1811-1866), botanist, formed a boyhood passion for natural history which was encouraged at Ballitore School, County Kildare.

1 portrait in the collection

Martha Mary Robertson, 1866

Johnstone O'Shannessy & Co

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Malcolm Robertson in memory of William Thomas Robertson 2018
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

William St. Leonards Robertson, c. 1869

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Malcolm Robertson in memory of William Thomas Robertson 2018
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Ralph Heimans AM

Sydney-based painter Ralph Heimans AM (b. 1970) is one of the world's foremost contemporary portraitists, having created a body of work that has expanded and redefined the possibilities of what is sometimes perceived as an inflexibly traditional genre.

19 portraits in the collection

Cocky McGrath

Archived media releases 2015

The long life and few words of a vice-regal cockatoo

L. Gordon Darling AC CMG

31 August 2015

The Chairman, Board, Director and all the Staff of the National Portrait Gallery mourn the loss of our Founding Patron, who died peacefully in Melbourne this morning. He was 94.

The world of Thea Proctor

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2008

The world of Thea Proctor was the National Portrait Gallery's second exhibition to follow the life of a single person, following Rarely Everage: The lives of Barry Humphries.

Lovers of light

Dr Sarah Engledow traces the significant links between Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo and Evelyn Chapman through their portraits.

Australian Love Stories

4 January 2021

Archived media releases 2021

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

Private virtues public lives

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2010

Family affections are preserved in a fine selection of intimate portraits.

Expect the unexpected

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2019

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

Edward Riou

Captain Moonlite et al on trial for murder

Edward Riou (1762-1801), naval officer, began his career with the Royal Navy at the age of twelve.

2 portraits in the collection

Andrew George Scott, alias Captain Moonlite, c.1879 attributed to Charles Nettleton

Diseased curiosity

Magazine article by Tenille Hands, 2018

Just after 10.00 o'clock on 3 December 1879, four prisoners were brought from their cells at Darlinghurst Gaol and placed in the dock of a courtroom heaving with agitated spectators

The life of Bryant

Tenille Hands explores a portrait prize gifted to the National Screen and Sound Archive.

The personal and the historical

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2020

Where do we draw a line between the personal and the historical? Although she died in Melbourne in 1975, when I was not quite eleven years old, I have the vividest memories of my maternal grandmother Helen Borthwick.

Venetia, Lady Digby, circa 1633-1634 by Sir Anthony van Dyck

Love in the extreme

Joanna Gilmour reveals love’s more intense manifestations in the tale of Lord Kenelm and Venetia Digby.

Face the music

Magazine article by Christine Clark, 2005

Drawn from the Gallery's collection, the exhibition Face the Music explores the remarkable talents and achievements of Australian musicians, composers, conductors and celebrities associated with the music industry.

The cook (Michael Schmidt/architect), 1987

Hall of mirrors

Magazine article by Naomi Cass, 2007

Naomi Cass, Director of the Centre of Contemporary Photography, in conversation with Anne Zahalka.

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.

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.

NPPP 2009 exhibition essay

NPPP 2012 learning resource

Dr Christopher Chapman, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2009 Prize.

Anthony Anderton

An interview with the photographer.

The National Portrait Prizes

29 January 2020

Archived media releases 2020

The National Portrait Gallery today announced finalists for the inaugural Darling Portrait Prize, a national new $75,000 prize for Australian portrait painting, and released selected images from the final prize pool for the popular National Photography Portrait Prize.

Janet Dawson

Explore The Popular Pet Show

When soulmates Janet Dawson and Michael Boddy moved from Sydney to a property, Boddy was clear about why: ‘Our marriage is one long conversation - we moved to the bush so we could talk to each other without so many interruptions.’

Worth her salt

Portrait, aquatint on paper

Jerrold Nathan's portrait of Jessie Street shows the elegant side of a many-faceted lady.

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

Part of the crew of His Majesty's Ship Guardian endeavouring to escape in the boats, 1790

Robert Dodd

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Portrait of Captain Edward Riou, 1801

James Heath after Samuel Shelley

Portrait, stipple engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Vintage Cassab

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2006

The oil portrait of Sir Frank Packer KBE by Judy Cassab was gifted to the National Portrait Gallery in 2006.

Uncommon Australians

The vision of Gordon and Marilyn Darling

Sarah Engledow writes about Gordon and Marilyn Darling and their support for the National Portrait Gallery throughout its evolution.

So Fine

17 May 2018

Magazine article by Peter Jeffrey, 2016

The National Portrait Gallery is pleased to announce its winter exhibition is So Fine: Contemporary women artists make Australian history. It will open to the public from 29 June 2018.

Hottie's Snifter to port

Peter Jeffrey trips the hound nostalgic.

Announcing... Ralph Heimans: Portraiture. Power. Influence.

30 November 2023

Archived media releases 2023

In March 2024, the National Portrait Gallery will launch a major exhibition of the work of Ralph Heimans AM, the Australian artist who’s painted some of the world’s most recognisable people.

On the road again

Magazine article by Dr Deborah Hill, 2017

Deborah Hill talks figures with character, as the National Portrait Gallery touring exhibitions program welcomes its millionth visitor.

All there in black and white

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2007

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.

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.

Rupert Bunny

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2008

Rupert Charles Wulsten Bunny (1864–1947) was one of the most celebrated Australian expatriate artists of his generation, achieving a degree of success in Paris in the 1890s and early 1900s that was unmatched by his peers.

3 portraits in the collection

Black tie or wombat: How formal should I go?

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

Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2012

Louis-Claude Desaulses de Freycinet (1779–1842), hydrographer and cartographer, sailed with Nicolas Baudin on the Expédition aux terres australes, a journey of discovery, commissioned by Napoléon, to the unknown southern coast of New Holland.

1 portrait in the collection

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2023

Learning resources

We encourage you to look, to feel, to think, to question and most importantly, to identify and connect.

The importance of being bearded

Joanna Gilmour discovers that the beards of the ill-fated explorers Burke and Wills were as epic as their expedition to traverse Australia from south to north.

So Fine

28 June 2018

Archived media releases 2023

Ten women artists explore the possibilities of portraiture as a contemporary art form; and reinterpret and reimagine Australian history in the Portrait Gallery’s new exhibition So Fine: Contemporary women artists make Australian history.

The 2023 National Photographic Portrait Prize

16 June 2023

Shea Kirk’s portrait of friend and fellow-artist Emma Armstrong-Porter has won the 2023 National Photographic Portrait Prize.

Of human clay

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2009

The first collaborative commission has arrived. It's a self portrait, it's ceramic and it's from Hermannsburg.

Desert Island Discs

I agonized over the choice of four songs to take with me to the ABC Studios for Alex Sloan’s Canberra 666 afternoon program, a sort of iteration of the old BBC Desert Island Discs.

2023 Annual Appeal

In 2023 the Annual Appeal was focussed on a work by one of Australia's best loved and most successful portrait painters, Judy Cassab AO CBE, depicting model, entrepreneur and deportment icon, June Dally-Watkins OAM.

Queen Victoria

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2007

Last Sunday I had the privilege of appearing at the Canberra Writers’ Festival in conversation with Julia Baird. The subject of our session was Julia’s recent biography, Victoria the Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman who Ruled an Empire.

Good, bad and the ugly

Michael Desmond explores what makes a portrait subject significant.

Ingres in Paris

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2006

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres was one of the greatest portrait painters in history.

Portrait of Lady Eyre Williams (Jessie Gibbon)

Chance encounter

Magazine article by Angus Trumble, 2016

Joanna Gilmour explores the life and times of one of Melbourne's early socialites, Jessie Eyre Williams.

The hands have it

Angus Trumble treats the gallery’s collection with a dab hand.

A guy from Paris

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2018

Sarah Engledow on a foundational gallery figure who was quick on the draw.

Showing character

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2016

Joanna Gilmour on Tom Durkin playing with Melbourne's manhood.

Australian Dance Party and Catapult Dance performing Connecting Stories: Innovations at the National Portrait Gallery, 2022 Lorna Sim

Let’s dance

Magazine article by Emma Batchelor, 2022

Emma Batchelor uncovers the compelling contemporary dance made in response to the works in Shakespeare to Winehouse.

200 Years of Portraiture

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2016

To celebrate his family bicentenary, Malcolm Robertson looks at the portraiture legacy left by his ancestors.

Apollo's breath

Christopher Chapman delights in the intimacy of Robert Mapplethorpe's photography

Judy Davis and Sam Neill in ‘My Brilliant Career’, 1979 David Kynoch

Moving still

Magazine article by Anne O'Hehir, 2022

Anne O’Hehir on the seductive power of the film still to reflect and shape ourselves and our cultural landscape.

Some prime ministers

Sarah Engledow explores the history of the prime ministers and artists featured in the exhibition.

Less than six degrees of separation

Lecture, 28 May 2011

Archived media releases 2021

Dr Anne Sanders NPG Curatorial Researcher investigated the lives of the pioneering psychologists whose portraits are featured in Inner Worlds.

Shakespeare to Winehouse: Icons from the National Portrait Gallery, London

Announcing Shakespeare to Winehouse

24 November 2021

More than eighty treasures from the National Portrait Gallery London will travel to Canberra for a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from March 2022.

Selfhood transcended

Magazine article by Dr Anne Sanders and Dr Christopher Chapman, 2018

Anne Sanders and Christopher Chapman bring passionate characterisation to Express Yourself, the Portrait Gallery collection exhibition celebrating iconoclastic Australians.

Poet of the Fleeting Moment

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2004

Mark Strizic's work crosses a broad spectrum of photographic fields including urban, industrial, commercial, and architectural photography.

Director John Duigan and actor Judy Davis on the set of ‘Winter of our Dreams’, Sydney, 1981 by Robert McFarlane

Natural born stiller

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2016

Penelope Grist speaks to Robert McFarlane about shooting for the stars.

My father-in-law watering his garden, 1986 by Davida Allen

Lovingly observed

Portrait, tinted lithograph on paper

Sarah Engledow previews the beguiling summer exhibition, Idle hours.

Sir Thomas Gore-Browne, 1864

J Walch & Sons

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Subtle emotion

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2010

Christopher Chapman considers photographer Rozalind Drummond's portrait of author Nam Le.

The Saint and the merchant

Emanuel Solomon gave shelter to the Sisters of St Joseph upon the excommunication of St Mary MacKillop.

Poets' Portraits

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.

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

Portraiture in a Bleak House

It may seem an odd thing to do at one’s leisure on a beautiful tropical island, but I spent much of my midwinter break a few weeks ago re-reading Bleak House.

Talking heads

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2008

In their own words lead researcher Louise Maher on the novel project that lets the Gallery’s portraits speak for themselves.

Practising the Minuet (Miss Hilda Spong)

An actress and her fans

Dr. Sarah Engledow discovers the amazing life of Ms. Hilda Spong, little remembered star of the stage, who was captured in a portrait by Tom Roberts.

The Mutineers turning Lieut Bligh and part of the Officers and Crew adrift from His Majesty's Ship the Bounty

High & Bligh

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2008

Joanna Gilmour explores the 1790 portrait of William Bligh by Robert Dodd.

Arianne McNaught

NPPP 2012 learning resource

An interview with the photographer.

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

Dempsey's people

Magazine article by Karl James, 2015

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.

Lauded legacy

Karl James gives short shrift to doubts about the profile of General Sir John Monash.

Facing Australia, Composite portrait: Facing St Lucia, 2003

Conflicting images

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2008

Michael Desmond reveals the origins of composite portraits and their evolution in the pursuit of the ideal.

Sophisticated and glamorous

Magazine article by Amanda Rowell, 2015

Michael Riley’s early portraits by Amanda Rowell.

Hearts of Darkness

Magazine article by Magda Keaney, 2006

The National Portrait Gallery's acquisition of the portrait of Edward John Eyre by pioneering English photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.

Wicked but Virtuous

Faith Stellmaker shares pioneering artist and restaurateur Mirka Mora’s lasting legacy on Melbourne’s art, dining and culture.

A real Pratt

Explore The Popular Pet Show

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.

Kristin Headlam

Basil grew into a speckled beauty – a long-legged leaper and an exceptionally vocal dog, with a great register of sounds, ascending in shock value from a whimper to a growl to a bark to a yelp that’s a violation of the ears.

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.

Indexing, the art of

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2008

The first index I created was for my first book, and, to my astonishment, that was almost twenty-five years ago.

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.

Trevor Jamieson, 2016 by Brett Canet-Gibson

The more things change...

NPPP 2017 exhibition essay

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2009

Dr Sarah Engledow, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2017 Prize.

Speed demon

Scott Redford discusses his dynamic portrait commission of motorcycling champion and 2008 Young Australian of the Year Casey Stoner.

Brooke Lockett, Heidi Martin, Karen Nanasca, Halaina Hills; New York, 2012 Lisa Tomasetti

Dance like everyone’s watching

Penelope Grist’s spirits soar with Lisa Tomasetti’s Dancers in the Streets series.

Alternative virtue

Magazine article by Diana Warnes, 2007

Joanna Gilmour presents John Kay’s portraits of a more infamous side of Edinburgh.

Oz and beyond

Martin Sharp fulfils the Pop art idiom of merging art and life.

The National Portrait Gallery's 20th birthday party

The National Portrait Gallery's 20th Anniversary

Magazine article by Diana Warnes, 2006

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.

Mental as everything

Chris O'Doherty, also known as Reg Mombassa, is best-known for his Mambo imagery but he also paints a lot of self portraits.

Aretha Brown

In conversation

Magazine article by Rebecca Ray, 2023

Gumbaynggirr artist Aretha Brown talks street art, collaboration and ghost stories with First Nations Curator and Meriam woman, Rebecca Ray.

Money and swat

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2007

Andrew Sayers discusses the real cost of George Lambert's Self portrait with gladioli 1922.

Poison pen

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2010

Michael Desmond examines the career of the eighteenth-century suspected poisoner and portrait artist Thomas Griffiths Wainewright.

Mural of Italian/Roman actress Anna Magnani (1908–1973) with face mask, April 2020 Unknown artist

Of plague and portraits

Corinna Cullen on the symbolic power of pandemic-related imagery over the ages.

General Birdwood, the Idol of Anzac, taking a dip in the sea after a hard days work 1915

In the thick of it

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2022

Projecting the splendour of the empire, and the resolve of its subjects, the bust of William Birdwood keeps a stiff upper lip in the National Portrait Gallery.

You are who?

Joanna Gilmour reflects on merging collections and challenging traditional assumptions around portraiture in WHO ARE YOU.

The silent partner

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2003

One half of the team that was Eltham Films left scarcely a trace in the written historical record, but survives in a vivid portrait.

Australians in Hollywood

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

Christmas Island

This is my last Trumbology before, in a little more than a week from now, I pass to my successor Karen Quinlan the precious baton of the Directorship of the National Portrait Gallery.

Secure the shadow ere the substance fade

The tragic tale of Tom Wills, the ‘inventor’ of Australian Rules Football.

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

Waterloo and Mrs. Moore

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2004

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.

The Multifarious Career of George Selth Coppin

George Selth Coppin (1819-1906) comedian, impresario and entrepreneur, was a driving force of the early Australian theatre.

The Cutmear sisters, Jane and Lucy, c. 1842

A man of superior attainments

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2013

Joanna Gilmour explores the life of a colonial portrait artist, writer and rogue Thomas Griffiths Wainewright.

One hundred days at 7pm 2015 by Fiona McMonagle

Self-effacing

Magazine article by Michael Wardell, 2016

Michael Wardell samples the fare in the University of Queensland National Self-portrait Prize.

Portrait of William Manning, c.1821 by Henry Bone

Of beef in burgundy

Magazine article by Angus Trumble, 2017

Angus Trumble reveals the complex technical mastery behind a striking recent acquisition, Henry Bone’s enamel portrait of William Manning.

Untitled (girl on chair with red shoes) by Violet Frisby

Finding Mrs Frisby

Magazine article by Robyn Sweaney, 2016

Robyn Sweaney's quiet Violet obsession.

Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil de Cavagnial, Marquis de Vaudreuil, ca.1753-55

Canadian identities

Magazine article by Lilly Koltun, 2004

An exploration of national identity in the Canadian context drawn from the symposium Face to Face at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 2004.

Miles from nowhere, 2008 (printed 2014) from the Games of consequence series 2008 Polixeni Papapetrou

Mother’s muse

Magazine article by Inga Walton, 2020

Inga Walton traces the poignant path of photographer Polixeni Papapetrou, revealed in the NGV’s summer retrospective.

Thinking about architecture and portraiture

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2009

Dr Christopher Chapman describes the experimental exhibition Portraits + Architecture

Drawing inspiration

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2017

Christopher Chapman absorbs the gentle touch of Don Bachardy’s portraiture.

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

The Rothschilds, the Montefiores, and the Victorian Gold Rush

Magazine article by Natalie Wilson, 2023

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.

A potpourri of portraits

Archie 100 curator (and detective) Natalie Wilson’s nationwide search for Archibald portraits unearthed the fascinating stories behind some long-lost treasures.

Material culture

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2018

The Rajah Quilt’s narrative promptings are as intriguing as the textile is intricate.

Of ice and men

Magazine article by Dr Anne Sanders, 2019

Frank Hurley's celebrated images document the heroism and minutiae of Australian exploration in Antarctica.

Eating the seasons

Anne Sanders imbibes Tony Bilson’s gastronomic revolution.

The Art Lovers - Megan, 2013 by Gary Grealy

Everybody, look serious

NPPP 2014 exhibition essay

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2023

Dr Sarah Engledow, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2014 Prize.

Human encounters

Joanna Gilmour takes us behind the scenes of some of Ralph Heimans’ best-known portraits of royalty, heads of state and cultural icons.

20 20

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2017

Sarah Engledow picks some favourites from a decade of the National Photographic Portrait Prize.

Confessional conversations

The portraiture of Kristin Headlam

Magazine article by Fiona Gruber, 2015

Fiona Gruber investigates the work of Australian painter Kristin Headlam.

Studio portrait of Lord Kitchener, British Secretary of State for War, 1914 by J Russell & Sons

All the way with K of K

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2016

Sarah Engledow bristles at the biographers’ neglect of Kitchener’s antipodean intervention.

Cultural kaleidoscope

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2006

The complex connections between four creative Australians; Patrick White, Sidney Nolan, Robert Helpmann and Peter Sculthorpe.

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

Great Scots

Magazine article by Diana O'Neil, 2017

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

Splendid, many-splendoured

Magazine article by Sandra Bruce, 2021

Sandra Bruce gazes on love and the portrait through Australian Love Stories’ multi-faceted prism.

1/2 length self portrait in mirror, wearing pyjama shirt, camera at shoulder height, 1979 Carol Jerrems

Great Experimentations

Magazine article by Rebecca Harkins-Cross, 2025

Rebecca Harkins-Cross considers Carol Jerrems’ portraiture against the backdrop of social change in the 1970s.

Costantini's convictions

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2017

Jo Gilmour uncovers endearing authenticity in the art of a twice-transported Tasmanian.

Cover, first minute book of the Tasmanian Society of Natural History

Embrace your inner nerd

Magazine article by Benjamin Law, 2025

The southern winter has arrived. For people in the northern hemisphere (the majority of humanity) the idea of snow and ice, freezing mist and fog in June, potentially continuing through to August and beyond, encapsulates the topsy-turvidom of our southern continent.

Venus, 2022 Jordan Richardson, Archibald Prize 2022 finalist

We Were There

Preserving stories, subverting power and posing nude: Benjamin Law explores the potency and persuasiveness of portraiture.

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.

Portrait of Dr Johann Reinhold Forster and his son George Forster

To the end of the earth

The portrait of Dr. Johann Reinhold Forster and his son George Forster from 1780, is one of the oldest in the NPG's collection.

Friends and Acquaintances

Dr. Sarah Engledow discusses a collection of drawings and prints by the Victorian artist Rick Amor acquired in 2005.

NPPP 2016 exhibition essay

Magazine article by Jane Raffan, 2015

Penny Grist, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2016 Prize.

First-Class Marksman, 1946 by Sidney Nolan

Money for Myth

Australian character on the market by Jane Raffan.

Sydney city (Patrick White and Tom Uren, Hiroshima Day demonstration), 1984

The activist A-list

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2007

Dr Sarah Engledow examines a number of figures in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery who were pioneers or substantial supporters of the seminal Australian environmental campaigns of the early 1970s and 1980s.

20/20 launch speech

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

Portrait of Thea Proctor, 1905 by George Lambert

The real Thea

Long after the portraitist became indifferent to her, and died, a beguiling portrait hung over its subject.

The art of Inner Worlds

Lecture, 7 May 2011

Magazine article by Alexandra Roginski, 2015

Dr Christopher Chapman NPG Curator of Inner Worlds explains the development of an exhibition that spans from Surrealism to contemporary art.

Getting a head

Alexandra Roginski gets a feel for phrenology’s fundamentals.

Eileen Dunne in The Hospital for Sick Children, 1940

The incomparable Beaton

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2011

To accompany the exhibition Cecil Beaton: Portraits, held at the NPG in 2005, this article is drawn from Hugo Vickers's authorised biography, Cecil Beaton (1985).

Louis XVI giving final instructions to the Comte de La Perouse, c. 1785

Sea legged frogs

Joanna Gilmour describes some of the stories of the individuals and incidents that define French exploration of Australia and the Pacific.

The Dissecting Room

Magazine article by Judith Pugh, 2005

Joanna Gilmour accounts for Australia’s deliciously ghoulish nineteenth century criminal portraiture.

A sketch for some portraits

Judith Pugh reflects on Clifton Pugh's approach to portrait making.

Progressive pictures

Magazine article by Aimee Board, 2017

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

History

About us

How the National Portrait Gallery and its unique collection came to be

The artist and her family, c. 1854 by Martha Berkeley

Presence and absence

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2018

The art of Australia’s colonial women painters affords us an invaluable, alternative perspective on the nascent nation-building project.

Sarah Bernhardt, 1876 by Georges Clairin

Demimonde liaisons

Magazine article by Jane Raffan, 2017

Jane Raffan feasts on modernity’s entrée in the Belle Époque theatre of the demimonde.

Nicholas Harding

Explore The Popular Pet Show

Over the years the young Nicholas Harding got his hands on various mice and guinea pigs, but they served mainly to illustrate the concept of mortality.

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.

Little women

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2019

Joanna Gilmour looks beyond the ivory face of select portrait miniatures to reveal their sitters’ true grit.

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.

Regarding Henrys

Sarah Engledow ponders the divergent legacies of Messrs Kendall and Lawson.

Thrown together

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

An evening at Yarra Cottage, Port Stephens

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

The Bare story

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2019

Curator, Penny Grist, reveals how this exhibition came to be

Helen Blaxland judging flower arrangements, c. 1940s photographer unknown

Petal to the mettle

Sarah Engledow lauds the very civil service of Dame Helen Blaxland.

Rick Amor: 21 Portraits