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The Royal she

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

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

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

Jaya'ism, 2019

Quickly, before it's gone, 2019

Life Dancers, 2015

Polly Borland on Queen Elizabeth II

Recorded 2017

A Calm So Deep, 2018

Will Kalimba

Innes Davenport

Dee Tang and Desmond Sweeney

Bathe in the sea and the sun

Benjamin Horgan and Jake Scourfield

Pamela and Colin McPherson

Mwaba Mubanga

Luke Brookes and Ellen Buswell

Waiting for Zipporah (Christine Anu), 2002

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2004

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

Purchased 2019

Miss Elizabeth Roberts, 1830

Purchased 2013

Her Majesty, The Queen, Elizabeth II (Blue), 2001

Purchased 2021

Elizabeth Walford, c. 1873

Gift of the Estate of Leslie Walford AM 2013

Elizabeth Reid, 1989

Gift of Elizabeth Reid 2019

HM Queen Elizabeth II, 2001

Purchased 2002

Elizabeth Chong, 2000

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005

Mrs Elizabeth Lewis, c. 1830

Gift of Leo Schofield AM 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Elizabeth Read (née Archer), c. 1853

Purchased 2019

Portrait of Elizabeth Jolley, 2003

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2003

Elizabeth Blackburn, 2011

Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2011

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

Arizona 250 GT Major General Liz Cosson, 2013

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2013

Longest reign

Queen Elizabeth II is now the longest-reigning British sovereign

Portrait story

Photographer Polly Borland on capturing Queen Elizabeth II.

The Changing Face of the Scientist

Scientists tend to conjure up images of men in white coats in labs but this is just one stereotype in an evolving history of how we have perceived scientists, and how their profession has been understood over the years.

Elizabeth Henrietta Fitzgerald (née Rouse), c. 1850

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

Elizabeth, 2019

Gift of the artist 2020

Dame Elizabeth Couchman, n.d.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Susan Webster, step-granddaughter of Dame Elizabeth Couchman, 2015

Marcie Elizabeth Wilson, 1922

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

Elizabeth Carter, c. 1920

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the family of FW Macpherson 2010

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

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Pamela Glasson 2012
Collected by Leila Haigh (nee Rouse)

Imagination

Dr Sarah Engledow tells the story of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee portrait by Australian artist Ralph Heimans.

Mary Chomley, 1909

Purchased with the assistance of funds provided by Jillian Broadbent AC 2021

Lady Loch, c. 1890

Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

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

Purchased 2019

Painting writing

Dr Sarah Engledow explores the portraits of writers held in the National Portrait Gallery's collection.

Portrait of Mrs Tom Roberts, 1910

Purchased with the assistance of funds provided by the Circle of Friends 2013

Dowling family portrait [Selina, Jane, Leura and Elizabeth (Bessie) Dowling], c. 1862

Gift of Malcolm Robertson in memory of William Thomas Robertson 2018. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Glorious

Glorious: A Diamond Jubilee portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is a collection-based display representing The Queen in the early and late years of her glittering sixty-year reign.

Princess Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia and Electress Palatine

Elizabeth, 2019

Queen Elizabeth I

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (1926–2022)

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.

Prisoner 20671 Alsbeta/ Elizabeth Weisz, 2016

Gift in memory of Elizabeth Skala 2018. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

The most material advantages

A one-in-a-thousand woman

Pride

Powerful Portraits: Queen Elizabeth I of England to Queen Mary of Denmark

In association with the exhibition, Ralph Heimans: Portraiture. Power. Influence. Associate Professor, Robert Wellington discusses the enduring connection of status with painted portraits.

Mary Hassall (née Rouse), c. 1850

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

Darling Portrait Prize 2020

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

The National Portrait Gallery Announces Art Handlers’ Award

The National Portrait Gallery is excited to announce that Perth photographer Elizabeth Looker has won the Art Handlers’ Award for this year’s National Photographic Portrait Prize.

Art Handlers' Award 2019

The Art Handlers' Award for 2019 went to A Calm So Deep, 2018 by Elizabeth Looker.

Polly Borland

Australian photographer, Polly Borland, describes the hectic experience of photographing Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Portrait of Ninette Dutton, 2004

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2004

Winner announcement

We are delighted to announce the winner of the inaugural $75,000 Darling Portrait Prize is Anthea da Silva with her painting of contemporary dancer Dr Elizabeth Cameron-Dalman OAM.

Sir Walter Ralegh (Raleigh)

Sir Henry Lee

The Capel Family

Fiona Scott-Norman, 2011

Adrian Rawlins, 1977

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

William Walford, c. 1873

Gift of the Estate of Leslie Walford AM 2013

Portrait Allsorts

Offering portraiture in all its flavours: painting, photography, drawing, textiles, printmaking and sculpture, this exhibition is a feast for minds and eyes.

King Henry VIII

Alexander MacLeay, c. 1845

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Maria Dowling and her children Leura, Bessie, Selina, Jane, Jack, Ben and Joe Dowling [Selina Dowling, Jane Dowling, Maria Jane Dowling (née Ware), John Ware Dowling, Joseph Dowling, Benjamin Dowling, Elizabeth (Bessie) Dowling, Leura Dowling], c. 1859

Gift of Malcolm Robertson in memory of William Thomas Robertson 2018. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2016

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

WHO ARE YOU

Featuring 130 works across painting, film, photography, screen printing, sculpture, and then some – it explores our inner worlds, outer selves, intimacy, isolation, celebrity and more.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2019

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.

Sir Arthur Coles, c. 1971

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Coles Myer Ltd 2002
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Icons Syndicate

Favourite portraits

National Portrait Gallery staff introduce their favourite portraits from the exhibition.

Teurai, 2011

Eleanor Wingate (née Rouse), c. 1850

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

Paris to Monaro

After successfully exploring the art scenes of London, France and Morocco, Hilda Rix Nicholas settled at Knockalong, a property near Delegate, on the Monaro plain in the 1920s.

Bruce Ruxton, 1995

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Bruno Grollo 1999

Karsh

Yousuf Karsh - the most famous portrait photographer in the world - has photographed the statesmen, artists, literary and scientific figures who have defined the 20th century and shaped our lives, In this, his 90th year, the National Portrait Gallery is thrilled to present an exhibition of Karsh's photography of 20th century figures.

King Edward Terrace

King Edward Terrace was named in honour of King Edward VII (1841-1910)

Adrian Feint, 1939

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

Cate Blanchett, 2002 (printed 2004)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005

Golden Jubilee

Polly Borland's photograph of The Queen was commissioned by Buckingham Palace as part of a series of high profile celebrations to mark the Golden Jubilee.

Theresa and James Laidley Mort, 1844

Gift of the Mort family 2009

Annual Appeal

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

Who is Lillie Roberts?

Talented wife for a talented husband

National Youth Self Portrait Prize

At the end of 2007 the National Portrait Gallery launched the inaugural National Youth Self Portrait Prize and artists aged between eighteen and twenty-five were invited to submit self portraits using a variety of media including drawing, painting, printmaking and traditional or digital photography.

Mary Neville, Lady Dacre and Gregory Fiennes, 10th Baron Dacre

James Macarthur, c. 1836-1838

Purchased 2019

Birds of a feather

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

Portrait of Helen Caldicott, 2021

Gift of Dr Helen Caldicott 2022

Portrait of Henry Hopkins, c. 1845

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2013

Sir Saul Samuel, c. 1870

Purchased 2014

Fay Bottrell, 1981

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

The Honourable Margaret Lusink AM, 2019

Gift of The Honourable Margaret Lusink AM 2021

William St Leonards Robertson and the Oxford boat race crew, early 1880s

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

Kylie Minogue, 1999

Purchased 2000

Geoffrey Rush, 1997

Purchased 1999

Maisie, 1938-1939

Bequest of Lady Maisie Drysdale 2001

Portrait of Brian Dunlop, c. 1972

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Dr Joseph Brown AO OBE 2006
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Cate Blanchett, 1998

Gift of the artist 1999

Cecil Beaton

Accomplished illustrator, painter, writer and diarist, set designer and one of the most distinguished photographers of the twentieth century, Cecil Beaton is renowned for his portraits of well known faces from the worlds of fashion, literature, and film.

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.

Blow Back, 2018

Gift of the artist 2024. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program.

Florence Austral, c. 1930

Gift of the University of Newcastle (Australia) 2007

Jane Windeyer, n.d.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Windeyer family 2012

2022 Annual Appeal

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

HV (Doc) Evatt, 1935

Gift of Elizabeth Evatt and Penelope Seidler 1998. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Of Kings and men

This display celebrates 100 years of the Historic Memorials Collection and its role in commissioning portraits of parliamentary and judicial figures in Australia.

TJ Smith and Tulloch, 1960 (printed 2003)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003

Self portrait (Hilda in the Chinoise hat), c. 1913

Gift of Bronwyn Wright 2013. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Helena Rubinstein in a red brocade Balenciaga gown, 1957

Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC, Tim Fairfax AC and the Sid and Fiona Myer Family Foundation 2015

Kylie Minogue 2, 2018 (printed 2020)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2020

Kylie Minogue 1, 2018 (printed 2020)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2020

Charles Lloyd Jones, n.d.

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

Mary Windeyer, 1850s

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

2013-14 Acquisition Fund

This 1910 portrait of Elizabeth Sarah (Lillie) Roberts by Tom Roberts was brought into the Gallery's collection with the assistance of the Acquisition Fund in 2013.

The first nurse

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

Recognition

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

Portrait 65

Hugh Ramsay, the fashion of Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson, Peter Wegner's centenarian series, John and Elizabeth Gould's family connections, Karen Quinlan's top five portraits and more.

Untitled #15 (Kylie Minogue performs at Tour of Duty concert at Dili Stadium, East Timor, 21 December 1999), 1999-2000

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2010. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Untitled #88 (Captain Brad Kilpatrick and Kylie Minogue, Balibo, East Timor, 20 December 1999), 1999

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2010. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Top of their game

Macfarlane Burnet and Patrick White

Australian Princess

The full-length portrait of HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark by artist Jiawei Shen, has become a destination piece for visitors.

Sir Charles Court and Richard Court, 2006-2007

Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2006

Announcing Shakespeare to Winehouse

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.

2014-15 Acquisition Fund

Kristin Headlam's portrait of Chris Wallace-Crabbe was acquired with the support of the Circle of Friends in 2014.

George Moore, 1957

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003

The Board

The Board oversees the Gallery's strategic directions, objectives and governance.

Duty bound

Joanna Gilmour explores the life of colonial women Lady Ellen Stirling, Eliza Darling, Lady Eliza Arthur, Elizabeth Macquarie and Lady Jane Franklin.

Portrait 67

William Yang on his autobiographical self portraits, David Parker's 1970s and 80s Melbourne music photographs, seven-time NPPP finalist Chris Budgeon, and Benjamin Warlngundu Ellis.

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

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

William Robertson, c. 1852

Gift of Fiona Turner (née Robertson) and John Robertson 2011. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Albert and his wife Rubina, Macdonnell Ranges, 1946

Purchased 1999

Husbands and Wives

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

Portrait of Alec Campbell, 2001-2004

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Bern Emmerichs

Born: 1961, Melbourne
Works: Melbourne

Portrait of Rolf, 1968

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Self portrait, 1992

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 1999

Rolf Harris, 1999

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Jane Mander Jones, 1853

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

David Jones, 1853

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

Portrait of Cate Blanchett, 2008

Commissioned with funds provided by Ian Darling 2008

Rolf Harris, 1989

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

Grow the Portrait Gallery of Australia

The Portrait Gallery is calling for contributions to support in the acquisition of superb portraits for the national collection.

Caroline Jones, 1978

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

John Landy, c. 1954

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2004

First Ladies

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

Glossy - Faces Magazines Now

Magazines are the portrait galleries of the 90s... Glossy is about magazines. The exhibition presents the work of eight photographers, Australian by birth or long-term residency, who are producing portraits for publication in magazines around the world.

Dora Byrne, 1951

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

Icons and imagery

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

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

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.

Elegance in exile

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.

Australians in Hollywood

Although perceived to be a recent phenomenon, the 'Aussie invasion' of Hollywood can actually be traced as far back as the early 1900s

More about the National Photographic Portrait Prize

Comments from our judges and information about entering the 2017 Prize.

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.

Captain W Kinghorne, 1834

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

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.

Little treasures

The acquisition of the ivory miniatures of Mortimer and Mrs Lewis.

Time and light

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.

Finalists announced for National Photographic Portrait Prize

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

The People’s Choice Awards

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

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.

Uncommon Australians

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.

2020 Annual Appeal

In 2020 the Annual Appeal was focussed on Sally Robinson's remarkable portrait of author Tim Winton.

Missing Persons

Desperately seeking Woolner medallions

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

The house, the horse, the wife and the offspring

Joanna Gilmour writes about the portraiture of the colonial artist William Nicholas.

The Saint and the merchant

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

Martha Kermode, c. 1840

Purchased 2008. The original frame for this work was donated to the National Portrait Gallery of Australia by the National Gallery of Victoria 2009.

Robert Kermode, c. 1840

Purchased 2008. The original frame for this work was donated to the National Portrait Gallery of Australia by the National Gallery of Victoria 2009.

The bright-eyed Mariner

A quiet moment

As Bryan Westwood’s portrait of Brian Dunlop hangs adjacent to Brian Dunlop’s portrait of the philanthropist Dr Joseph Brown AO OBE, we see the artist of one work as the subject of the other. 

Little women

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

Crikey!

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

Winner announced for National Photographic Portrait Prize 2019

From an outstanding field of more than 3,000 entries, culminating in a shortlist of 39 exceptional finalists, the Winner and Highly Commended entries for this year’s National Photographic Portrait Prize have been named.

Around the grounds

Anne Sanders writes about the exhibitions Victoria & Albert: Art & Love on display at the Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace and the retrospective of Sir Thomas Lawrence at the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Extremely generous and incredibly close

Michael Desmond examines the daguerreotype portraits created by American artist Chuck Close.

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

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.

Spikes: then and now

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

Material culture

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

Blue Collar Icon

Dr Sarah Engledow delves into the life of union leader Pat Mackie who is depicted in a portrait by Nancy Borlase AM.

Tracks in the sand

Dr Sarah Engledow discusses Quentin Jones's photograph of Australian author Tim Winton.

Australia’s great internationalists

Penelope Grist explores the United Nations stories in the Gallery’s collection.

The National Portrait Prizes

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.

Past directors

Directors of the National Portrait Gallery from 1998 to today.

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.

Big shots

Djon Mundine OAM brings poignant memory and context to Martin van der Wal’s 1986 portrait photographs of storied Aboriginal artists.

Less than six degrees of separation

Anne Sanders finds connections in Inner Worlds between Hungarian expatriates and the development of psychoanalysis in Australia.

Glossy too

The Glossy 2 exhibition highlights the integral role magazine photography plays in illustrating and shaping our contemporary culture.

Empire records

Celebrates the centenary of the first national art collection, the Historic Memorials Collection, housed at Australia's Parliament House.

Why do painted portraits still matter?

Lecture by Sandy Nairne, Director, National Portrait Gallery, London, given at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra on 28 April 2006.

The intellectual larrikin

Barrie Cassidy pays textured tribute to the inimitable Bob Hawke.

Give me five

National Portrait Gallery director Karen Quinlan AM nominates her quintet of favourites from the collection, with early twentieth-century ‘selfies’ filling the roster.

Bill and Ted's excellent portrait.

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

Take thy face hence

Joanna Gilmour travels through time to explore the National Portrait Gallery London’s masterpieces in Shakespeare to Winehouse.

Citizen Kenne

April Thompson explores an exhibition of Ingvar Kenne’s global portrait project.

Coming into being

Dr Christopher Chapman, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2018 Prize.

Sir Thomas Gore-Browne, 1864

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

200 Years of Portraiture

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

Portrait Donors

Food for thought

Michael Wardell on Chrys Zantis’ Ora.

You beauty

Joanna Gilmour explores the fact and fictions surrounding the legendary life of Irish-born dancer Lola Montez.

Anatomist's eye

Robert Hannaford has completed around 400 portraits over the span of his career. 

A real Pratt

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.

The story of us

Gallery directors Karen Quinlan and Tony Ellwood talk to Penelope Grist about the NPG and NGV collaborative exhibition, Who Are You: Australian Portraiture.

More cash than dash

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

The fat of the land

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

Listomania

Sarah Engledow describes the fall-out once Brett Whiteley stuck Patrick White’s list of his loves and hates onto his great portrait of the writer.

Vanity fair

Ashleigh Wadman rediscovers the Australian characters represented with a kindly touch by the British portrait artist Leslie Ward for the society magazine Vanity Fair.

Technical terminology

Michael Desmond introduces some of the ideas behind the exhibition Present Tense: An imagined grammar of portraiture in the digital age.

Study in scarlet

Angus Trumble reflects on the force of nature that was Helena Rubinstein.

Generous Janice

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

The stately lotus

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

In the galleries

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

An Australian story

In his speech launching the new National Portrait Gallery building on 3 December 2008, then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd set the Gallery in a national and historical context.

Uncommon Australians

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

Petal to the mettle

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

Eating the seasons

Anne Sanders imbibes Tony Bilson’s gastronomic revolution.

Confessional conversations

Fiona Gruber investigates the work of Australian painter Kristin Headlam.

Poise and Carats

I keep going back to Cartier: The Exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia next door, and, within the exhibition, to Princess Marie Louise’s diamond, pearl and sapphire Indian tiara (1923), surely one of the most superb head ornaments ever conceived.

Lauded legacy

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

Earth to earth

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

Cultural kaleidoscope

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

Fiona McMonagle

Fiona aims to create a dangerous situation with a flood of water on the paper, forcing each work to the point where it can fail, and then rescuing it. 

NPPP 2016 exhibition essay

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

Noel McKenna

It’s a matter beyond dispute that in the entire history of Australian art, it’s Noel McKenna who’s painted the liveliest rendition of the head of a Chihuahua.

History

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

Presence and absence

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

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.

Unknown drawer

Dempsey’s People curator David Hansen chronicles a research tale replete with serendipity, adventure and Tasmanian tigers.

Queen of cartes

Joanna Gilmour discusses the role of the carte de visite in portraiture’s democratisation, and its harnessing by Victoria, the world’s first media monarch.

Secure the shadow ere the substance fade

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

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

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.

Prima facie

Sarah Engledow casts a judicious eye over portraits in the Victorian Bar’s Peter O’Callaghan QC Portrait Gallery.

All the way with K of K

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

Less than six degrees of separation

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

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.