Search / john franklin

John Thomson after William Derby

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

Captain Sir John Franklin, 1830

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

Sir John Franklin

D F. Murphy after E P. Hardy

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

5 portraits in the collection

Sir John Franklin, c. 1845

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Captain Franklin RN, 1825

Theresa Walker after David D'Angers

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

Sir John Franklin, c. 1846

Portrait, cast wax

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Captain Sir John Franklin, Kt, KCH, KRG, DCL, FRS & c. Commander of the Arctic Expedition, 1845, c. 1847

an unknown artist, D Bogue after Thomas Phillips

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

Jane Franklin

A & S Ltd after Amélie Romilly

Jane Franklin (née Griffin, 1791–1875) came to Van Diemen’s Land in 1837 following the appointment of her husband, Sir John Franklin, to the position of lieutenant-governor of the colony.

2 portraits in the collection

Lady Franklin, c. 1850

an unknown artist after Thomas Bock

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

Jane Franklin, c. 1866-1875

Portrait, carved marble relief

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

John Mitchel with John Martin and Father John Kenyon [the three Johns]

John Mitchel with John Martin and Father John Kenyon [the three Johns], 1866

Edouard Gatel

John Noone after William Strutt

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

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

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

Portrait, photolithograph on paper

Purchased 2013

Duty bound

John Sherwin after Samuel Shelley

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

Lieutenant Watts, 1789

John Brown after H Hering

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Edward John Eyre, Late Governor of Jamaica

Edward John Eyre, Late Governor of Jamaica, 1867

John R. Jackson after John Linnell

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Karen McLeod Adair and Anthony Adair 2003

General Ralph Darling, Governor of New South Wales

General Ralph Darling, Governor of New South Wales, c. 1840

Purchased 2018

John Roper, 1860s

John Buchanan Smith

Portrait, mixed media on archival mount board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John Sandefur 2019

Professor Ralph Blacket, 1994

John Caldwell

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2017

John Laws, 1981

Purchased 1999

John Williamson, Springbrook, Qld, 2004

Portrait, pen and ink and brush and ink on paper laid on cardboard

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

John Cargher holding a long play record, c. 1986

John Spooner

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Sketch for portrait of John Perceval, c. 1962

Portrait, charcoal pencil on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Helen Brack 2012

Sketch for portrait of John Perceval, c. 1962

Portrait, charcoal on Paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Helen Brack 2012

Reverend John West, Sydney., n.d.

John Cochran

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

Portrait of Denton Corker Marshall, 2009

John Gollings

Portrait, wood engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

The Australasian Federal Convention at Sydney

The Australasian Federal Convention at Sydney, 1884

The Graphic

Purchased 2015

Delegates to the Constitutional Convention, Sydney 1891

Delegates to the Constitutional Convention, Sydney 1891, 1891

Portrait, engravings on paper

Purchased 2009

Dr John Yu

An interview with the acclaimed pediatrician Dr. John Yu who describes the process of having his portrait sculpture created by artist Ah Xian.

John Yu AC

Dr John Yu (b.1934), retired paediatrician and hospital administrator, was born in Nanking, China and moved to Australia with his parents when he was three years old.

3 portraits in the collection

John Kay

John Kay (1742–1826), caricaturist and painter of miniatures, was born near Dalkeith, Scotland, and started out his working life at thirteen as an apprentice to local barber.

3 portraits in the collection

John Noone

John Noone, photographer and lithographer, began advertising the services of his ‘Photographic Establishment’ in the Melbourne Argus in September 1858, and worked from two separate addresses on Collins Street from this time until 1862.

1 portrait in the collection

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

John Tindale

John Tindale was born in Warwickshire in 1809 and came to Sydney in 1820 to join his father, a convict who had been transported to NSW in 1812 and who received a free pardon in 1816.

1 portrait in the collection

John O'Gready

John O'Gready (1937-1999) was a photographer for John Fairfax & Sons from the 1960s to the late 1980s and seems to have mainly covered sporting events.

1 portrait in the collection

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

John Laws CBE OBE

John Laws CBE (b. 1935), radio talkback commentator, broadcast to 65 stations around Australia on Sydney’s 2UE and other channels between 1957 and 2007.

2 portraits in the collection

John Kaldor AO

John Kaldor, textile designer and manufacturer, was born in Hungary. He came to Australia with his family in 1948.

1 portrait in the collection

John Longstaff

Sir John Longstaff, born in Clunes, Victoria, studied at the NGV school from 1883 to 1887 and thenceforth at Corman's in Paris.

1 portrait in the collection

John Young

John Young, mezzotint engraver, studied under Valentine Green then worked with several of the painters who collaborated with Green, notably Benjamin West, John Hoppner and Johann Gerhard Huck.

1 portrait in the collection

John Citizen

John Citizen is the artistic alter ego of Australian artist Gordon Bennett (1955-2014), painter and multi-media artist, addressed issues of identity and power in a postcolonial context.

1 portrait in the collection

John Mawurndjul AM

John Mawurndjul (b. 1952) is a Kuningkju-speaking man who lives near Maningrida, one of the Northern Territory's oldest and best-equipped art centres.

2 portraits in the collection

John Flynn OBE DD

John Flynn OBE DD (1880-1951) was a Presbyterian Minister, founder and superintendent of the Australian Inland Mission (AIM).

1 portrait in the collection

John Passmore

John Passmore (1904-1984), painter, studied with Julian Ashton in Sydney between the ages of fourteen and twenty-nine, and took some instruction from George Lambert.

1 portrait in the collection

John Connell

John Connell (c. 1759–1849), free settler, merchant and landowner, came to New South Wales aboard the Earl Cornwallis, which arrived in Sydney in June 1801.

1 portrait in the collection

John Frith

John Frith, cartoonist, was born and schooled in England before coming to Sydney in 1929.

4 portraits in the collection

John Murphy

John Murphy, engraver, was born in Ireland and appeared as an engraver in London in about 1778.

1 portrait in the collection

John Waters

John Waters (b. 1948), actor, sang with London band the Riots before moving to Australia at the age of twenty.

1 portrait in the collection

John Shortland

John Shortland (1739-1803), naval officer, was a member of a family of which six members were associated with the colonisation of Australia and New Zealand.

1 portrait in the collection

John Lucas

John Lucas started his career as an apprentice to the engraver Samuel William Reynolds.

1 portrait in the collection

John Davis

Alan Davies' and Peter Stanbury's The Mechanical Eye in Australia lists Sydney photographer John Davis (life dates unknown) as having a carte-de visite studio on King Street, and as working from addresses on Pitt and George Streets between 1870 and 1873..

1 portrait in the collection

John Le Gay Brereton

John Le Gay Brereton junior (1871–1933), writer and academic, was born in Sydney, the son of a doctor, also John, who had emigrated to Australia in the late 1850s.

1 portrait in the collection

John Sherwin

John Keyse Sherwin, draughtsman and engraver, worked as a cutter of ships' bolts until 1769, when one of his drawings was awarded a silver medal at the Society of Arts.

1 portrait in the collection

John Tebbutt

John Tebbutt (1834-1916), astronomer, was born into a family of pioneering free settlers and was well educated.

1 portrait in the collection

John Caldwell

John Caldwell, (b.1942) is best known as a painter of landscapes in watercolour, began painting in 1969 while living in London.

2 portraits in the collection

John Dowie AM

John Dowie AM (1915–2008), artist and teacher, is best known for his public sculptures held in most Australian capital cities.

1 portrait in the collection

John Darling

John Darling (1923-2015), businessman, company director and media producer was the son of Harold Gordon Darling, chair of BHP.

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

John Marsden

Portrait, pencil and white chalk on paper

John Marsden (1950–2024), author of Tomorrow, when the war began, is credited with encouraging generations of young people to read.

1 portrait in the collection

Untitled (preparatory study for sculpture of Dr John Yu)

Untitled (preparatory study for sculpture of Dr John Yu), 2003

Ah Xian

Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2004

John Bertrand

John Bertrand AO (b. 1946) is a successful yachtsman, Olympian, sports administrator, businessman and philanthropist.

1 portrait in the collection

John Dunn

John Dunn (1802-1894), flour miller and philanthropist, eked out a mean living as a mill manager in England before migrating to South Australia with his wife and son in 1840.

1 portrait in the collection

John Allan

John Allan (1866-1936) was a Deakin shire-councillor for many years and president in 1914-15.

1 portrait in the collection

John T. Barber

John Thomas Barber, army officer, insurer, miniaturist and philanthropist, took the additional name of Beaumont in 1812.

1 portrait in the collection

John Slaytor

John Slaytor (b. 1966) is a Sydney based commercial photographer and an accredited member of the Australian Institute of Professional Photography.

1 portrait in the collection

John Spooner

John Spooner (b. 1946), editorial cartoonist and illustrator, graduated in law before turning to political illustrating and cartooning in the early 1970s.

3 portraits in the collection

John Vickery

John Vickery (1906-1983), illustrator, designer and painter was the only Australian to be part of the New York School in 1960s which includes painters such as Jackson Pollock, Joan Mitchell and Willem de Kooning.

1 portrait in the collection

John West

John West (1809–1873), clergyman and newspaper editor, was accepted for service in Van Diemen’s Land by the Colonial Missionary Society in 1838.

1 portrait in the collection

John Witzig

John Witzig, photographer, writer and designer, contributed his first piece to Surfing World in 1963.

5 portraits in the collection

John Gould

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

John Williamson

John Williamson (b. 1945), singer songwriter, was born and raised in Victoria's Mallee region.

1 portrait in the collection

John Shirlow

John Shirlow (1869-1936) etcher, was the first Australian to make etching the basis of his career.

1 portrait in the collection

John Knatchbull

John Knatchbull (c. 1792-1844), naval captain and convict, served in the British navy before being convicted of stealing and transported to New South Wales.

1 portrait in the collection

John Austin

John Austin was born and developed his skills as a photographer in England.

2 portraits in the collection

John Elliott

John Elliott (b. 1951), photographer, country music devotee, broadcaster and writer, grew up in Blackall in central western Queensland.

24 portraits in the collection

John Frost

John Frost (1784-1877), political convict, became a radical agitator while working as a draper and tailor in his native Newport, Monmouthshire.

1 portrait in the collection

John Button

John Button (1933-2008), Labor politician, studied arts and law at the University of Melbourne and made his name as a barrister in Melbourne before becoming involved in the Victorian branch of the Labor Party in the late 1950s.

2 portraits in the collection

John Hamilton

As a young reporter for the Melbourne Age, John Hamilton (b.1940 UK, migrated to Aust.

1 portrait in the collection

Hon. John A. Wallace

John Alston Wallace (1824–1901), storekeeper, hotelier and mining entrepreneur, came to Melbourne in 1852 to try his luck on the goldfields.

1 portrait in the collection

John Olsen AO CBE

John Olsen AO OBE (1928–2023), painter, was one of the major figures in 20th-century Australian art.

8 portraits in the collection

John Schaeffer AO

John Schaeffer AO (1940–2020), businessman, connoisseur and philanthropist, was a founding benefactor of the National Portrait Gallery.

1 portrait in the collection

John Hinde

John Hinde AM (1911-2006), film reviewer and reporter, had a couple of false starts in journalism before being hired by the ABC's news and current affairs department in 1939.

1 portrait in the collection

John Brack

John Brack (1920–1999), artist, grew up in Melbourne and studied at the National Gallery School at night while working as a junior insurance clerk.

9 portraits in the collection

John Schank

John Schank (1740–1823), naval officer, joined the Royal Navy at age 17, having served in the merchant service as a boy.

1 portrait in the collection

John Webber

When John Webber R.A. (c. 1752-1793), the son of a Swiss sculptor, living in London, submitted his work to the Royal Academy Schools, one of the first to admire his paintings was Dr Daniel Solander, the Swedish naturalist who had accompanied Cook and Banks on the first voyage.

5 portraits in the collection

Sir John O'Shanassy

Sir John O’Shanassy KCMG (1818–1883), politician and businessman, arrived in Melbourne from Ireland in 1839.

3 portraits in the collection

John Gaden AM

John Gaden AM (b. 1941), actor, studied arts and law at the University of Sydney, but when he joined the Sydney University Players, he abandoned his other pursuits for the stage.

1 portrait in the collection

John Williams AO OBE

John Williams AO OBE, (b. 1941), guitar virtuoso, had his first guitar lessons from his father, and from the age of eleven attended summer schools with the Spanish maestro Andrés Segovia in Italy.

1 portrait in the collection

John Bell AO OBE

John Bell AO OBE (b. 1940), actor and director, is one of Australia's best-known theatre personalities.

3 portraits in the collection

John Wolseley

John Wolseley was born in Somerset, England in 1938 and moved to Australia in 1976.

3 portraits in the collection

John Nixon

John Nixon (1949–2020), installation artist and painter, studied at the Preston Institute of Technology and the National Gallery School in the late 1960s and 1970.

1 portrait in the collection

John Hillcoat

John Hillcoat (b. 1960), filmmaker, was born in Brisbane and grew up in Canada, the USA and Europe.

1 portrait in the collection

John Farnham AO

John Farnham (b.1949) has sustained a successful career in the Australian music industry for more than 40 years.

1 portrait in the collection

Sketch of Clifton Pugh painting John Perceval

John Perceval AO

John Perceval AO (1923-2000) was a painter and ceramic artist. Early on, along with Sidney Nolan, Arthur Boyd and Albert Tucker, he was part of a loose group of largely self-taught Australian artists, now known as the Angry Penguins, who rebelled against the conservatism of the art establishment.

10 portraits in the collection

Dr John Yu, 2004

Ah Xian

Portrait, glazed ceramic

Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2004

John Cargher

John Cargher AM (1919-2008), music broadcast presenter, grew up in England, Germany and Madrid.

1 portrait in the collection

John Olsen AO

John Olsen AO (b. 1945), diplomat and former politician, grew up in South Australia and began his public career as its youngest-ever mayor, assuming that office in Kadina in 1974.

1 portrait in the collection

John Tsiavis

John Tsiavis (b. 1977) is a photographer working across portraiture, entertainment, editorial and advertising projects.

6 portraits in the collection

The Hon. John Howard OM AC

The Hon. John Howard OM AC (b. 1939) was Prime Minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007.

1 portrait in the collection

John Shine AO

Professor John Shine AC (b. 1946), biochemist and philanthropist, was born in Brisbane and completed his undergraduate and doctoral degrees at the Australian National University in Canberra in the 1970s.

1 portrait in the collection

John Clarke

John Clarke (1948-2017), satirist and humourist, moved to Australia in the 1970s from New Zealand, where he had begun performing in university revues and was named Entertainer of the Year in 1976.

3 portraits in the collection

John Lewin

John Lewin was Australia's first free-settler professional artist. He arrived in Sydney in 1800, intervention from influential patrons having secured him the assurance of rations.

1 portrait in the collection

John Dease

Conly John Paget Dease (1906-1979), actor and broadcaster, spent thirty years as one of the signature voices of the ‘Golden Age’ of Australian radio.

1 portrait in the collection

John Eason

John Eason (1799–1858) was a shipwright who worked in Van Diemen’s Land during the 1830s, 1840s and 1850s.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir John Cornforth AC CBE FRS

Sir John Warcup Cornforth AC CBE FRS (1917-2013) won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1975 for his work on the stereochemistry of enzyme-catalysed reactions.

1 portrait in the collection

John Cobley

John Cobley (1914-1989), doctor, historian and television host, studied at State schools, won a scholarship to the University of Sydney and graduated in medicine and science in 1937.

1 portrait in the collection

John Gollings

John Gollings made his first photographs and received darkroom tuition at age eleven; he later studied Arts/Architecture at Melbourne University, supporting himself through architectural and wedding photography.

3 portraits in the collection

John Williams

John Williams (1796-1839), missionary, began his working life in 1810, apprenticed to an ironmonger, but in 1814 he underwent an Evangelical conversion and became a member of the Tabernacle Church (Calvinistic Methodist).

1 portrait in the collection

John Landy AC CVO MBE

Melbourne-born track and field athlete John Landy AC CVO MBE (1930–2022) came to the nation’s attention as a young man in the mid-1950s, as he followed his first Olympic competition at Helsinki in 1952 with a series of extraordinary races over the course of the next four years.

1 portrait in the collection

John Burton

John Burton (1915-2010), public servant, author and academic, was educated in Sydney and at the London School of Economics, where he gained his doctorate on a Public Service Scholarship in 1942.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir John Young

Sir John Young, 1st Baron Lisgar (1807-1876), governor of New South Wales from 1861 to 1867, was the son of a director of the East India Co.

1 portrait in the collection

The Aboriginal community of Lake Tyers, Gippsland

John Bulmer

John Bulmer (1833-1913), missionary and clergyman, came to Australia in 1852 and worked as a cabinetmaker in Melbourne for two years before going to the goldfields.

1 portrait in the collection

John Bradfield

John Bradfield (1867-1943), engineer, was a key figure in the development of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and inner city transport network.

1 portrait in the collection

Piper, the native who accompanied Major Mitchell in his expedition to the interior

John Piper

Piper (life dates unknown), also known as John Piper, was a Wiradjuri man who acted as a guide to Thomas Mitchell’s surveying expedition along the Murray and Darling Rivers into present-day Victoria in 1836.

2 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

John Sumner AO CBE

Previous exhibition, 2007

John Sumner AO CBE (1924–2013), described as the 'father of Australian drama', was born in England and trained and worked in repertory theatre there before World War 2.

2 portraits in the collection

John Brack Portraits

The exhibition includes such striking works as Portrait of Fred Williams, and Barry Humphries in the character of Edna Everage, the enigmatic Portrait of Hal Hattam, a group of revealing self portraits including the mysterious Inside and Outside, as well as endearing portraits of the artist's children.

John Flaus

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

1 portrait in the collection

John Bulunbulun

Johnny Bulunbulun (1946-2010), Ganalbingu (Yolgnu) painter and printmaker, grew up on the island of Milingimbi and in Bulman in southern Arnhem Land.

1 portrait in the collection

John Utz, Wormald, n.d.

Portrait, watercolour, coloured pencil, crayon, fibre-tipped pen and gouache on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001

John Brack

Recorded 1962

John Perceval

Recorded 1961

John Tsiavis

Recorded 2018

John Olsen

Recorded 1962

John Bell

Recorded 1962

John Coburn

Recorded 1962

John Bell

Recorded 1973

John Dowie part 1

Recorded 1960

John Dowie part 2

Portrait, leather-bound album of cartes de visite and cabinet cards, 46 page book, featuring 156 photographs

Recorded 1960

Album of cartes de visite and cabinet card photograph including a portrait of John Tebbutt, c. 1870s

Various

Gift of Mike MacPhail 2010

Tan Le, 2018

Portrait, transparency between mirror substrates in LED lightbox

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

Self portrait, c. 1948

Portrait, conté crayon on paper

Purchased with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2010

Self portrait

John Constable

Charles Darwin

John Collier

associated with John Taylor

William Shakespeare

associated with John Taylor

William Shakespeare

associated with John Taylor

William Shakespeare

Magazine article by John Elderfield, 2017

Self-portrait with bowler hat, 1885–6 by Paul Cézanne

Hail Cézanne

John Elderfield lauds the portraiture of Paul Cézanne, the artist described by both Matisse and Picasso as ‘the father of us all’.

Jim Cobb at Chroma factory Mt Kuring-gai, NSW, 2017 by Mark Mohell

The alchemist’s profile

Magazine article by John Zubrzycki, 2017

John Zubrzycki meets Australian paint pioneer Jim Cobb.

Murray frees himself from straightjacket in public, 1928 by Sam Hood

Risky business

Magazine article by John Zubrzycki, 2016

John Zubrzycki lauds the characters of the Australian escapology trade.

Cross-cultural wedding

John Benavente

Sarah Siddons (née Kemble)

John Downman

Professor John Mulvaney AO CMG

Emeritus Professor Derek John Mulvaney AO CMG (1925–2016), one of Australia’s foremost prehistorians, has often been described as the father of Australian archaeology.

1 portrait in the collection

Olivia Newton-John AC DBE

Olivia Newton-John AC DBE (1948-2022) came to Australia as a five-year-old with her father, Brin Newton John, who had worked on the Enigma project at Bletchley, and her mother, Irene Born, who was the daughter of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Max Born.

1 portrait in the collection

William John Wills

William John Wills (1834-1861) came to Victoria with his brother in early 1853.

3 portraits in the collection

Sir John Carew Eccles AC FRS

Sir John Carew Eccles AC FRS FAA (1903-1997), neuroscientist, won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1963 for his discoveries concerning the ionic mechanisms involved in excitation and inhibition in the peripheral and central portions of the nerve cell membrane.

1 portrait in the collection

John Hamilton, 1969

Meg Padgham

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

Sir William John Macleay

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

1 portrait in the collection

Hon. Sir John Forrest GCMG

Sir John Forrest (1847-1918), explorer and politician, trained as a surveyor and led an 1869 expedition in search of Ludwig Leichhardt.

2 portraits in the collection

John Edward Thornett MBE

John Edward Thornett MBE (1935–2019), former rugby union international, grew up in Sydney and was educated at Sydney Boys’ High where, in addition to being school captain, he excelled at rugby, swimming and rowing.

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

John Allen Manton

John Allen Manton (1807–1864), Wesleyan minister, arrived in Australia in 1831.

1 portrait in the collection

Lieutenant John Watts

Lieutenant John Watts (1755-1801) joined the Navy in 1770 and embarked with James Cook in 1776 on the fatal voyage of the Resolution.

1 portrait in the collection

Captain John Hunter

John Hunter (1737-1821), naval officer and governor, came to Sydney as second captain of the Sirius, the flagship of the First Fleet.

3 portraits in the collection

Edward John Eyre

Edward John Eyre (1815-1901), explorer and administrator, emigrated to New South Wales from England when he was 17.

3 portraits in the collection

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

John Pascoe Fawkner

John Pascoe Fawkner (1792-1869), sometimes called the 'Founder of Melbourne', was a pioneer and adventurer.

2 portraits in the collection

Rt. Hon. John McEwen CH GCMG PC

Sir John (‘Black Jack’) McEwen CH GCMG PC (1900-1980) was leader of the Australian Country Party and deputy prime minister from 1958 to 1971.

2 portraits in the collection

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

John Mawurndjul, 2005

R. Ian Lloyd

Gift of R Ian Lloyd 2010. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program.

Dr John Janson-Moore

Based in Sydney, John Janson-Moore (b. 1968) is a visual artist, photographer and filmmaker, working across a broad spectrum of media, encompassing portraiture, documentary and conceptual art.

2 portraits in the collection

John Tjakamarra, 1974 (printed 2007)

Jon Rhodes

Purchased 2008

Charles John Cerutty CMG

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on cabinet card

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

Sir John Hay, 1887

Freeman Brothers

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

John Mawurndjul, 1986

Purchased 2005

Sir William John Lyne

Sir William John Lyne (1844-1913), politician, was a Premier of New South Wales and a minister in the first Australian parliament.

1 portrait in the collection

John Bulunbulun, 1986

Purchased 2005

Wilfred John Peisley

Wilfrid John Peisley, born in Bathurst, won a number of prizes at regional shows before gaining a scholarship to the East Sydney Technical College at the age of seventeen.

1 portrait in the collection

John Henniker Heaton

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

1 portrait in the collection

Henry John Rous

Henry John Rous (1795–1877), naval officer, racing enthusiast and politician, arrived in Sydney in February 1827 as the commander of the frigate HMS Rainbow.

1 portrait in the collection

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

Sir John Gorton GCMG AC CH

The Rt Hon Sir John Gorton GCMG AC CH (1911–2002) was the nineteenth prime minister of Australia and the only senator yet to have served in the office.

5 portraits in the collection

John Landy, c. 1954

Ern McQuillan OAM

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

Mr John Eason, 1838

W. B. Gould

Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family 2013

Edmond John Hogan

Edmond John (Ned) Hogan (1883-1964), farmer and premier, left school early and engaged in road-making, timber-cutting, farm-labouring and rabbiting in addition to farm chores at home.

1 portrait in the collection

Tan Le

'So many stars'

Tech entrepreneur Tan Le and photographer John Tsiavis.

Dr John Yu, 2014

Gary Grealy

Purchased with funds provided by Dr Gene Sherman AM and Patrick Corrigan AM 2016

John Allan, 1923

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint and dry pigment on board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

John Sumner, 1976

Jim Paterson

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Jim Paterson 2004

Sir John W. Downer KCMG, KC

Sir J.W. Downer was a delegate from South Australia to the Constitutional Convention, Sydney, 1891.

2 portraits in the collection

John Dease, 1941

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

John Laws on a Harley, 1994 (printed 2012)

Jim Rolon

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

John Elliott, IXL - Elders,

Portrait, watercolour, crayon, coloured pencil, gouache and fibre-tipped pen on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001

John Spalvin, Adelaide Steamship,

Portrait, watercolour, crayon, coloured pencil and fibre-tipped pen on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001

John David, Davids Holdings, Largest Grocery Wholesalers

John David, Davids Holdings, Largest Grocery Wholesalers,

Portrait, watercolour, crayon, coloured pencil, fibre-tipped pen and gouache on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001

Nat in Hawaii, 1967

Gift of the artist 2008

Portrait of Les Tanner, 1984

John Spooner

Purchased 2004

Macca (Ian McNamara), 2007

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2007

R. M. Williams, 1982 (printed 2005)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005

Bopping Bob McTavish, c. 1965 (printed 2012)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Ita Buttrose, 1981

Purchased 1999

Jimmy Little, Sydney, 2004

Gift of the artist 2005

Al Grassby and Penny Dent, Community Relations Commission, Canberra

Al Grassby and Penny Dent, Community Relations Commission, Canberra, 1982

Purchased 1999

Pro Hart, Broken Hill, NSW, 2004

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Thomas White, midshipman, c. 1838

John Kay

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Reg Lindsay, Scone, NSW, 2004

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Ted Egan, Alice Springs, NT, 2004

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Henry James

John Singer Sargent

Portrait of Kym Bonython/Portrait of Mr Bonython's speedway cap

Portrait of Kym Bonython/Portrait of Mr Bonython's speedway cap, 1963-1966

Portrait, oil on canvas (diptych)

Gift of Kym Bonython AC DFC AFC 2007. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Louise Jane Jopling (née Goode, later Rowe)

Sir John Everett Millais 1st Bt

Jim Ferrier, n.d.

Portrait, cast printer's metal

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Frith family 2013

Artists' space

Magazine article by John McDonald, 2007

Studio: Australian Painters Photographed by R. Ian Lloyd presents 61 of some of Australia’s most respected and significant painters working in the studio environment.

NYE 2020

The Zammitt Family

Thomas Muir of Huntershill, 1838

John Kay

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

George Mealmaker, 1798 (printed c. 1838)

John Kay

Portrait, carrara marble on scagliola column

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

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.

John Fairfax, 1873

Charles Summers

Portrait, carrara marble

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

John Burton, 1951

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mr and Mrs John Burton 2007

John Cann and his father, 2007

by Hugh Stewart

John Shirlow, c. 1937

Julian Smith

Portrait, pastel and gouache on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

John Levi at Puckapunyal, 1953

Barry Humphries

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Rabbi John Levi AC 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

John Newcombe, 2006

Robin Sellick

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2006

John Bell, c. 1968

Portrait, pastel on paper

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

Sir John Eccles, 1959

Pam MacFarlane

Gift of an anonymous donor 2007

John Waters, 2013

George Fetting

Portrait, ink, charcoal and conté on paper

Gift of the artist 2015

Study for John Bell as King Lear, 1998-2001

Nicholas Harding

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

John Marsden, 1998

Peter Wegner

Portrait, pastel on paper laid on canvas

Gift of the artist 2002

John Fairfax, c. 1860

Edwin Dalton

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

John Coburn, 1974

Vaike Liibus

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Liibus family 2015

Sir John Kerr AK KCMG LSt J PC GCVO QC

Sir John Kerr AK KCMG LSt J PC GCVO QC (1914-1991) was the eighteenth Governor-General of Australia.

3 portraits in the collection

John Perceval painting 'Veronica and the Conspirators'

John Perceval painting 'Veronica and the Conspirators', 1967

Mark Strizic

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999

Sir John Michael Higgins GCMG

Portrait, albumen paper photograph on carte de visite

Sir John Michael Higgins GCMG (1862-1937), metallurgist, government adviser and company director, was the son of a miner and was indentured to a pharmacist at 14.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir John Young, c. 1862

Freeman Brothers

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

John Connell, c. 1830

Richard Read Jnr

Portrait, watercolour on paper laid on cardboard

Gift of Eleanor Thornton 2013. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

John Williams, 2000 (printed 2022)

Portrait, wood engraving (Baxter print) on paper

Purchased 2022

Reverend John Williams, c. 1837

George Baxter

Purchased 2012

John Farnham, 1996

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2000

William John Pickett Bedford

William John Pickett Bedford (1805–1869) was the eldest of three children of Anglican clergyman, William Bedford (1781–1852), and his wife, Eleanor, and came to Van Diemen’s Land with his family in 1823 following the appointment of his father to a chaplaincy in the colony.

1 portrait in the collection

John Perceval, 1985

Portrait, black conte on paper

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

John Perceval, 1985

Portrait, black conte on paper

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

John O'Shanassy, c. 1860

Portrait, albumen silver photograph

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Senator John Button, 1987

Andrew Sibley

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

John Newcombe and family, 1973

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

John Thomas "Jack" Lang

Portrait, bromide print on photographic paper

John Thomas Lang (1876–1975) served two terms as premier of New South Wales in the 1920s and 1930s.

5 portraits in the collection

Sir John Cornforth, 1993 (printed 2003)

Nick Sinclair

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2004

Study for portrait of Senator John Button, 1992

Andrew Sibley

Portrait, ink, coloured pencil, gouache, crayon and fibre-tipped pen on single mount board with gold coloured ink border

Gift of the artist 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

John Perceval, 1999

Thomas de Kessler

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Thomas de Kessler 2001

The Australian Tom Thumb (John David Armstrong), c. 1880

J D. Cooper

Purchased 2014

John Bell, 1962 (printed 2006)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2006

John Schaeffer AO - art collector and philanthropist, 2014

Evert Ploeg

Purchased with funds provided by Harold Mitchell AC 2015

John Wolseley, 2002

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

John Olsen - En plein air, 1996

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

John Kaldor, 1975 (printed 2002)

Gift of the artist 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

John Olsen, 1993

Robin Sellick

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2004

General Sir John Monash GCMG KCB

General Sir John Monash GCMG KCB (1865-1931) was one of Australia's great military leaders.

1 portrait in the collection

John Perceval, 1985

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

Professor John Shine, 2011

Portrait, oil on canvas laid on composition board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Jozef Vissel 2015

John Richard Tindale, 1841

Maurice Felton

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003

Sir Edward John Lees Hallstrom

Sir Edward John Lees Hallstrom (1886–1970) manufacturer, philanthropist and zoo trustee, grew up with his eight siblings in Waterloo, Sydney, after the family left the failed family farm in Coonamble, New South Wales.

3 portraits in the collection

Herbert John Louis Hinkler

Herbert John Louis (Bert) Hinkler (1892-1933), aviator, worked with a photographer and in sugar mills before joining the Queensland Aero club and taking a correspondence course in mechanics.

1 portrait in the collection

John Hinde, 1990 (printed 2011)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

John Coburn, 2002

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

John Dunn, c. 1880s

Portrait, opalotype, hand coloured

Purchased 2016

John Olsen, 1979

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

John Olsen, 1996

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

John Newcombe, 1976 (printed 2017)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2017

John Coburn, 1987

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

John Konrads, c. 1965

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2015

John Olsen AO, CBE, 2017

Nicholas Harding

Gift of the artist 2019. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

John Beard, 2003

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

John Cobley, 1944

Nora Heysen AM

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

John Wolseley, 2002

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

John Darling, n.d.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Lily Kahan 2017
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

John Olsen, 1971

Clifton Pugh AO

Gift of the Bardas families, in memory of Sandra Bardas OAM and David Bardas AO 2024. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

John Spooner, 2001 (printed 2011)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

John Vickery, c. 1929

Gift of Karen Vickery 2022

John Gaden, n.d.

Stuart Campbell

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Estate of Stuart Campbell 2012

John Clarke, 2004

Julian Kingma

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

John Passmore, c. 1970

Kerry Dundas

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

John Hillcoat, 1999 (printed 2022)

Purchased 2022

Lipstick, 2009

by John Sones

Gender not specified, 2010

by John McRae

Professor John Le Gay Brereton, c. 1930

Portrait, drypoint on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Windeyer family 2012

John Perceval painting, 1958

Fred Williams

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of James Mollison AO 2007

Portrait of John Flaus, 2022

Alan Mitchell

Portrait, watercolour, tempera, wax, hard cover book and thread

Gift of the artist 2022

John Wolseley, old master, 2020

Martin King

Gift of the artist 2023. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Fred Dagg (John Clarke), 1982

Rennie Ellis

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2006

Chris Lilley, 2012

John Foster Dulles, Washington, 1956 (printed 2000)

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.

Polly Borland, 2015

John Nixon 1, January 1979, 1979 (printed 2012)

Robert Rooney

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

John Olsen, Woollahra, Sydney, 1962 (printed 2000)

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.

Life mask of John Bell, c. 1980

Portrait, ink, coloured pencil, gouache, crayon and fibre-tipped pen on double layer mount board with gold coloured ink border

Portrait, cast plaster

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Roslyn Lawson 2013

The Last of the Angry Penguins - John Perceval, 1999

Thomas de Kessler

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Thomas de Kessler 2001

The Australian Tom Thumb (John David Armstrong), c. 1880

Sarony & Co

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

Portrait of a young man, held to be John Robertson

Portrait of a young man, held to be John Robertson, c. 1852

Portrait, daguerreotype, hand coloured

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

John Braine, Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire

John Braine, Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire, 1958 (printed 2000)

Portrait of Margaret Olley in her Paddington studio, 2011

by John McRae

Magazine article by Angus Trumble, 2017

Humour’s warm refuge

Angus Trumble pays tribute to John Clarke.

Acting, 2011

by Daniel Boud

Fearless leader, 2008

by Rosalind Smallwood

Peter Skrzynecki, 2012

John Slaytor

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

Bud Tingwell, 2005

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Richard Woldendorp, Perth, WA, 2004

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Edna Jessop, Mt Isa, 2004

Magazine article by Annette Twyman, 2021

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

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

Birds of a feather

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

Portrait of Tam Purves, 1958

Purchased 2012

Hans Heysen, 1960 (cast 2004)

John Dowie AM

Portrait, cast bronze

Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2004

Christos Tsiolkas, 1998 (printed 2009)

Purchased 2009

Christos Tsiolkas, 1998 (printed 2009)

Purchased 2009

Jacki Weaver, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2018

Portrait of Jawoyn Elder, Margaret Katherine

Portrait of Jawoyn Elder, Margaret Katherine, 2015

John Gollings

Gift of the artist 2017. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Herb Wharton, Cunnamulla, Qld, 2004

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2005

Gift of the artist 2005

Clay, water, fire

Ah Xian's porcelain portrait of paediatrician Dr. John Yu reflects Yu's heritage and interests.

Mark Richards, 1976

Purchased 2007

Smoky Dawson, Sydney, 2004

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Kelly Dixon, Tent Hill, Qld, 2004

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Portrait of the artist as a young man

Dr Sarah Engledow explores the early life and career of John Brack.

Chad Morgan, Sunshine Coast, Qld, 2004

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Midget Farrelly at Palm Beach, 1964

Purchased 2007

Rev. Fred Nile, Festival of Light, Sydney

Rev. Fred Nile, Festival of Light, Sydney, 1981

Purchased 1999

Kasey Chambers, Sydney, 2004

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Rolf de Heer, Adelaide, SA, 2004

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Rick Carey, WA, 1998 (printed 2004)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Stan Coster, Manilla, NSW, 1994 (printed 2004)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Neil Murray, Bolac, VIC, 2004

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Frank Beaurepaire, n.d.

Portrait, cast printer's metal

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Frith family 2013

Slim Dusty at Carlton Hill Station, WA, 1993

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999

Study for "Barry Humphries in the character of Mrs Everage", 1969

Gift of Timothy Fairfax AC 2012. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Her Majesty, 1860

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite photograph on card

Purchased 2020

Flynn of the Inland, 1955-1956

Harry Hudson

Portrait, pen, ink and gouache on paper

Purchased 1999

Robert Edwards, 2009

Commissioned with funds provided by Art Exhibitions Australia 2009

Jack Purtell, n.d.

Portrait, plasticine maquette

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Frith family 2013

Joan Croll, 1976

Gift of Frank Croll and Dr Joan Croll AO 2001. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Dick Smith, Sydney, 2000 (printed 2004)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Study for portrait of Joan Croll, 1976

Portrait, conté crayon on paper

Gift of Dr Joan Croll AO 2007. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Creator versus character - Chris Lilley, 2009

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2011

Mandawuy Yunupingu, NT, 2004

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Eddie Mabo (after Mike Kelley's 'Booth's Puddle' 1985, from Plato's Cave, Rothko's Chapel, Lincoln's profile) No.3, 1996

John Citizen

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, selenium toned on paper

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 1999

Howard Taylor, 1988 (printed 2001)

John Austin

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Howard Taylor, 1988 (printed 2001)

John Austin

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, selenium toned on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Head, hand, heart

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2007

An extensive selection of portraits by John Brack were on display at the National Portrait Gallery in late 2007.

William Francis King, 'The Flying Pieman'

William Francis King, 'The Flying Pieman', c. 1869

John Davis

Gift of the family of FW Macpherson 2010

Prince Alfred, 1860

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite photograph on card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2020

C.J. Cerutty, 1926

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Admiral Bligh, 1801

John Chapman

W Sherwin after S Shelley

Purchased 2010

Lieutenant Shortland, published 1789

Purchased 2010

H.R.H. The Prince Arthur, 1860

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite photograph on card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2020

Prince Albert, 1860

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite photograph on card

Purchased 2020

Prince Arthur, 1860

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite photograph, hand coloured on card

Purchased 2020

J M Coetzee, 2012

Dave Tacon

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Piper, the native who accompanied Major Mitchell in his expedition to the interior of N.S.W.

Piper, the native who accompanied Major Mitchell in his expedition to the interior of N.S.W., 1836

William Fernyhough

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Dr Robert Edwards AO 1999
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Her Majesty seated, 1860

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite photograph on card

Purchased 2020

Desiderius Orban (at 101 years of age), 1985

John Caldwell

Portrait, mixed media on archival mount board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2017

H.R.H. The Prince Alfred, 1860

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite photograph on card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2020

Piper, the native who accompanied Major Mitchell in his expedition to the interior, c. 1836

William Fernyhough

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

Jack Lang

Portrait, albumen silver cabinet card photograph on card

Recorded 1967

The latest portrait of Her Majesty Queen Victoria

The latest portrait of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, c. 1896

John Thomson

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2020

George Barrington, 1820

John Chapman

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Princess Alice, 1860

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite photograph on card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2020

Ned Hogan, 1925

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

William Bligh, c. 1776

John Webber

Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family 2015

Professor John Mulvaney, 1984

Janenne Eaton

Portrait, oil on masonite

Gift of John and Jean Mulvaney 2000

John Thornett, 1966

Lesley Moline

Gift of John and Vivien Thornett 2014

Olivia Newton-John, 1978 (printed 2017)

Gary Heery

Purchased 2017

John Passmore AC, 1973

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Doris Passmore 2003

John Bertrand, 2019

Betina Fauvel-Ogden

Purchased with funds provided by Dr Helen Nugent AO 2020

John Gorton, 1970

Victor Greenhalgh

Portrait, terracotta

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Paul and Wendy Greenhalgh 1999
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Sir John Gorton, n.d.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Lily Kahan 2017
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

John Gorton, 1997

Nathan Kelly

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2002

William John Wills, c. 1861

De Gruchy & Leigh

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Portrait of Dr John Bradfield, c. 1920-1924

Reginald Jerrold-Nathan

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the family of Dr J J C Bradfield 2006
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

John Firth-Smith, 1974

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

Sir John McEwen, n.d.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Lily Kahan 2017
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Sir John McEwen, n.d.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Lily Kahan 2017
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Captain John Hunter, Governor New South Wales, 1801

William Ridley

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

John Gorton, 1970 (cast 1999)

Victor Greenhalgh

Portrait, cast bronze

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Cast 1999 from terracotta donated by Paul and Wendy Greenhalgh 1999

The Member of the Upper House "One of the Olden Time" [The Hon. John Alston Wallace M.L.C.], 1874

Purchased 2016

A Vanquished Knight "Wroth with Kilmore" [The Hon. John O'Shanassy, K.C.M.G.], 1874

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

Captain John Lort Stokes, c. 1841

'The photojournalists of their time'

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

Captain Cook

Previous exhibition, 2014

An exploration of the role of artists such as John Webber who, whilst a member of Cook’s crew over many voyages, created paintings and drawings of the situations and people the explorers encountered.

Arcadia

Sound of the sea

An exhibition of photographs by John Witzig, drawings by Nicholas Harding and film footage by Albe Falzon, expressive of the free-spirited, hot-blooded energy of Australian surfers under the cloud of conscription to Vietnam.

John Sumner, 1984

Eleanor Constance Gude

Portrait, watercolour on paper

Gift of Professor David Phillips 2023

Sir John Gorton, c. 1968-1971

Portrait, fibre-tipped pen on paper on cardboard

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

John Frost, 1839

an unknown artist, W Read

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Captain John Hunter, 1801

William Ridley

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Professor John Bishop, c. 1963 (printed 2018)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

John Firth Smith, 1995

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

Sir John 'Bawra' Higgins, 1922

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Sir Edward John Lees Hallstrom, n.d.

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

Sir Edward John Lees Hallstrom, n.d.

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

A Suburban Member. "Poetry and Politics" [John Whiteman], 1875

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Ben Chifley, 1951

Portrait, cast plaster, patinated and bronze powder coated pipe

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Frith family 2006
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Reverend John Allen Manton, President of the Australasian Conference and Governor of Horton College, Tasmania, c. 1855

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

Barbara McGrady, 2017 (printed 2023)

Portrait, inkjet print on cotton rag paper

Purchased 2023

An Afternoon (Aunty Jenny Munro at the Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy)

An Afternoon (Aunty Jenny Munro at the Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy), 2015

Portrait, inkjet print on Hahnemühle photorag paper

Purchased 2022

Portrait of Captain James Cook RN, 1782

John Webber

Purchased by the Commonwealth Government with the generous assistance of Robert Oatley AO and John Schaeffer AO 2000

Former prime ministers of Australia, 2014

by Alex Ellinghausen

Magazine article by Beatrice Thompson, 2007

Somewhere to hang your cap

A pair of portraits by John Brack; Portrait of Kym Bonython and Portrait of Mr Bonython's speedway cap combine to create a quirky depiction of their subject.

J.C. Williamson, c. 1913

John Longstaff

Gift of the family of Aimée Viola Horsley, daughter of J.C. Williamson 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Arcadia (Wayne Lynch and Bob McTavish), 1969 (reprinted 2011)

Gift of the artist 2011

Bishop Spong, 2006

by Marina Dearnley

Troy Cassar-Daley, Brisbane, 2004

Magazine article by Magda Keaney, 2006

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Hearts of Darkness

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

Goods and chattels

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite photograph on card

I have been reading systematically through the ads in the earliest issues of the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, such a rich vein of information about certain aspects of daily life in Regency Sydney.

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

John & Charles Watkins

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2020

Jack Lang, 1931

Portrait, pencil, pen and ink on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

The hand of Captain Cook

Google Arts and Culture

Learning resources

Take a close look at a portrait with a hidden message in its hands. For Year 7 – 9 students.

Master Molteno, c. 1866

Townsend Duryea

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

A Head Master"Beyond the Grave" [Rev. J.E. Bromby], 1874

John Morley, Madelin Bronar-Thomas and

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

Lockdown dreaming II

William Lyne, late 1860s

Charles Woolley

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

The Hon. James Whyte, c. 1874

John Hubert Newman

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

John Monash, 1919

James Quinn

Gift of John Colin Monash Bennett 2007. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

John Pascoe Fawkner, c. 1867

an unknown artist after Sir Joshua Reynolds

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Portrait of Dr John Hawkesworth, c. 1770

Valentine Green after Johann Zoffany

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family 2018

John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, c. 1774

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

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

John Kerr, 1976

Frank Hinder

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

Portrait of the Seventh Earl of Hopetoun, the Rt Hon. John Hope

Rt Hon John Adrian Louis Hope KT GCMG GCVO PC

Rt Hon John Adrian Louis Hope KT GCMG GCVO PC, 7th Earl of Hopetoun (1860–1908) was the first governor general of Australia.

3 portraits in the collection

Murray Rose, Jon Henricks and John Devitt

Murray Rose, Jon Henricks and John Devitt, 1955

Ern McQuillan OAM

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

Sketch of Clifton Pugh painting John Perceval, 1985

Thomas Herbert Maguire, M & N Hanhart

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2016

John Gould, 1849

James Watson after Sir Joshua Reynolds

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

John Hawkesworth LLD, c. 1850 (originally 1776)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Edward John Eyre, 1865

Ferdinand Jean Joubert

Portrait, fibre-tipped pen, watercolour, pencil on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Governor General Sir John Kerr, 1976

Frank Hinder

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

Clifton Pugh and John Olsen, Dunmoochin, 1969

Mark Strizic

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999

John Buckley Castieu, Lionel Lindsay and Norman Lindsay

John Buckley Castieu, Lionel Lindsay and Norman Lindsay, c. 1897

Portrait, albumen silver photograph

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Kath & Kim

Sir Percy Spender, 1955

Wilfred John Peisley

Anthony Cardon after John T. Barber

Gift of John Spender KC 2015

David Collins Esq, 1804

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Slim Dusty and Dame Edna Everage, Carlton Hill Station, WA, 10 July 1993

Slim Dusty and Dame Edna Everage, Carlton Hill Station, WA, 10 July 1993, 1993

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999

John Bell as King Lear oil on Belgian linen, 2001 by Nicholas Harding

Lear unbuttoned

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2001

Sarah Engledow steps up to the footlights and applauds the storyline behind Nicholas Harding's portraits of actor John Bell.

String of Pearls

Andrew Sayers discusses the portrait of Dr Joan Croll AO by the Australian artist John Brack.

Jack Lang, life mask, n.d.

Arthur Murch

Portrait, fibreglass and resin

Purchased 2000

Jack Lang, 1970

Adam Martin

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Elsie Martin 2000

The people's champion, Mr Lang, c. 1927

Portrait, cast plaster, painted

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

The Gladiators (Norm Provan and Arthur Summons)

The Gladiators (Norm Provan and Arthur Summons), 1963 (printed 1970s)

John O'Gready

John Cochran after Sir Thomas Lawrence

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

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

Magazine article by Karl James, 2015

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Lauded legacy

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

Captain Cook's Tablet at Cape Solander, Botany Bay, New South Wales

Captain Cook's Tablet at Cape Solander, Botany Bay, New South Wales, 1839

G E. Madeley after John Lhotsky

Portrait, oil on masonite

Purchased 2018

Sir Edward Hallstrom, c. 1960

Esme Bell

Gift of the Musgrave Family 2018

Reverend Robert Ross MD, Sydney, New South Wales

Reverend Robert Ross MD, Sydney, New South Wales, n.d.

John Cochran after Henry Room

Portrait, cast metal with gold finish

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

Bert Hinkler, 1930s

Nison Tregor

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Alan Foulkes in memory of Mark Graham Cleghorn 2012

Edward Telford Simpson, 1919

John St Helier Lander

Portrait, collage of coloured paper, pencil on paper

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

Jack Lang, c. 1930-1940

George Finey

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Duke of Wellington, 1841

John Lucas

R Cooper after John Singleton Copley

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

Admiral Earl Howe, n.d.

Daniel Orme after Robert Dighton

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

Portrait of Captain John Hunter, 1792

Samuel Bellin after Thomas Heathfield Carrick

Purchased with funds provided by Ross A Field 2008

Lord John Russell, 1844

Francesco Bartolozzi after John Webber

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

Captain James Cook, engraving after John Webber

Captain James Cook, engraving after John Webber, 1784

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

Tony Roche, Harry Hopman and John Newcombe

Tony Roche, Harry Hopman and John Newcombe,

Ern McQuillan OAM

Thomas Griffiths Wainewright

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003

Reverend William Bedford junior, c. 1846

Portrait, watercolour on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2013

Captain James King, engraving after Webber

Captain James King, engraving after Webber, 1784

Francesco Bartolozzi after John Webber

Francis Jukes after John Cleveley

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

View of Owhyhee in the Sandwich Islands in the south Seas (The Death of Cook)

View of Owhyhee in the Sandwich Islands in the south Seas (The Death of Cook), 1787-1788

Portrait, aquatint, hand coloured on paper

Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family 2012

Capturing Cook

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2003

In focussing on the importance of gifts in the building of the collection, prominence must be given to the most spectacular of the National Portrait Gallery's acquisitions; the portrait of Captain James Cook RN by John Webber R.A.

Reverend Daniel Draper, c. 1866

Fredrick Charles Burman after John Cochran

John Raphael Smith after Sir Benjamin West

Purchased 2010

Sir Joseph Banks, c. 1788

John Thornthwaite, C Forster after Richard Westall

Purchased 2010

William Hodges Esq. RA, 1792

W Sherwin, John Stockdale after Francis Wheatley

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

Arthur Phillip Esq., Captain General and Commander in Chief in & over the territory of New South Wales

Arthur Phillip Esq., Captain General and Commander in Chief in & over the territory of New South Wales, 1789

John Cochran after Henry Room

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

Captain R.C. Morgan, Missionary ship 'John Williams'

Captain R.C. Morgan, Missionary ship 'John Williams', n.d.

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, selenium toned on paper

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

Gough and John, 1981

Peter van der Veer

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005

Professor John Passmore, 1996

Robin Wallace-Crabbe, Dianne Fogwell

Portrait, ink

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

Men of the Day No. 5 "As straight as a reed" (Henry John Rous), 1870

Alfred Thompson, Vanity Fair Magazine

Carlo Pellegrini, Vanity Fair Magazine

Purchased 2015

Men of the Day No. 27 "La Reyne le veult" (Sir John George Shaw-Lefevre), 1871

Purchased 2015

Portrait of the Seventh Earl of Hopetoun, the Rt Hon. John Hope, 1901

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper laid on cardboard

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Meeting by Murder

Magazine article by Yvonne Audette AM, 2005

The story behind two colonial portraits; a lithograph of captain and convict John Knatchbull and newspaper illustration of Robert Lowe, Viscount Sherbrooke.

The importance of being bearded

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2012

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.

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

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

John Murphy after George Romney

Portrait, sepia toned strip proof on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

No Fixed Address from 'Rock Against Racism' concert, Redfern

No Fixed Address from 'Rock Against Racism' concert, Redfern, 1980

Juno Gemes

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

John Knatchbull, Murderer of Mrs Ellen Jamieson, 1844

Charles Rodius, Hiberian Printing Office

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

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

Francesco Bartolozzi, William Byrne after John Webber

Gift of the Jozef Vissel 2015

The Death of Captain Cook, 1784

James Faed, W Wilding after John Watson Gordon

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

General Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, 1850 (published)

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

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

South-bound and down

Post Office Photographic Studio, Melbourne after John J. Mayall

Joanna Gilmour recounts the story of ill-fated sea voyages in the early stages of the Antipodean colony.

Queen Victoria, 1860-1865

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite photograph on card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2020

The Burke and Wills Monument, 1869

Thomas Foster Chuck

Portrait, albumen paper photograph on carte de visite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Lord Viscount Sydney, c. 1790

John Young after Gilbert Stuart

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

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

International Penny Postage (Mr John Henniker Heaton MP), 1887

Blood, Joyce Gold Naval Chronicle Office after John Smart

Gift of Ronald Walker 2002

Sir George Young Kt, Admiral of the White Squadron

Sir George Young Kt, Admiral of the White Squadron, 1814

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

Governor Sir Robert Duff with Lady Duff, Lord Hopetoun and Vice-Regal Party

Governor Sir Robert Duff with Lady Duff, Lord Hopetoun and Vice-Regal Party, 1893

Kerry & Co

Julius Mendes Price, Vincent Brooks, Day & Son, Vanity Fair Magazine

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

W. A. (Sir John Forrest), 1897

Henry Samuel Sadd, Fergusson & Mitchell, Melbourne after Thomas Adams Hill

Gift of Ronald A Walker 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

William John Wills, 2nd in command of the Victorian Expedition

William John Wills, 2nd in command of the Victorian Expedition, 1860-1861

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

Purchased with funds provided by Ross A Field 2007

The Lord Chamberlain (Earl of Hopetoun John Adrian Louis Hope)

The Lord Chamberlain (Earl of Hopetoun John Adrian Louis Hope), 1900

Gift of Mr Ronald Walker 2001

The Aboriginal community of Lake Tyers, Gippsland, c. 1890

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on paper on card

Purchased 2010

The First Ministry under Responsible Government in New South Wales

The First Ministry under Responsible Government in New South Wales, 1856

Freeman Brothers

Portrait, albumen silver photograph

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009

Adam Scott: at Sanctuary Cove Golf Course

Celebrities on the field

Magazine article by Christine Clark, 2006

Robin Sellick's portraits of Australian sportspeople include Harry Kewell, Adam Scott, Shane Warne, Mark Webber and John Newcombe.

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

Unknown artist Publisher Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News

Norman, Kodak, Rose, J.F Archibald, model and John Barr

Norman, Kodak, Rose, J.F Archibald, model and John Barr, c. 1913

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, toned on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Michael Leunig, Barry Humphries and John Clarke at Mietta's

Michael Leunig, Barry Humphries and John Clarke at Mietta's, 1989 (printed 2013)

Helga Leunig

Portrait, colour digital print on photographic paper

Gift of Helga Leunig 2013

David Moore, Max Dupain and John Gollings, 1980 (printed 2001)

Kate Gollings

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

Yango Mungo ye Yango of Bathurst's Plains

Yango Mungo ye Yango of Bathurst's Plains, 1824

Moses Griffith after John Lewin

Portrait, copper engraving, hand coloured on paper

Purchased 2011

Melbourne experience

Magazine article by Diana Warnes, 2007

Diana Warnes explores the lives of Hal and Katherine 'Kate' Hattam through their portraits painted by Fred Williams and Clifton Pugh.

William Macleay, 1885

William Macleod after Freeman Brothers

Thomas Morris, M N. Bates, Joseph C. Stadler after George Garrard

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

Woburn Sheepshearing, 1811

Portrait, aquatint with stipple and etching and engraving, hand coloured on chine colle on paper laid down on cotton stretched over wooden strainer

Purchased 2018

Thomas and John Clarke, bushrangers, photographed in Braidwood Gaol

Thomas and John Clarke, bushrangers, photographed in Braidwood Gaol, 1867

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on laid down on a section cut from a nineteenth century album page

Purchased 2019

John Howard and Janette Howard, 2000

Josonia Palaitis

Magazine article by Stuart Purves, 2016

Commissioned with funds provided by the Founding Patron, L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2000

Bonfire of the vanities

Australian Galleries Director Stuart Purves tells the story of two portraits by John Brack.

Harry and Penelope Seidler, 15 December 1958

John Hearder

Portrait, photograph on paper

Gift of Penelope Seidler AM 2021

The Haigh family, c. 1996

Magazine article by Kate Gollings, 2004

Gift of the Haigh family 2005

Colin Madigan and Robert Hughes, Canberra

Three Dimensional

Kate Gollings describes an encounter between three generations of Australian photographers; David Moore, Max Dupain and John Gollings.

Thousand mile stare

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2004

John Elliott talks about his photographic portrait practice, including his iconic image of Slim Dusty arm-in-arm with Dame Edna Everage.

Olly's Trolly, Freddie's Brushes, 1989

Murray Walker

Portrait, monoprint on paper

Gift of the artist 2001

The Catholic Hierarchy of Australia, 1869

Archibald McDonald, Henry Samuel Sadd

an unknown artist, an unknown artist, J Asperne

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

John Schank Esq. RN, 1805

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

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

MacKenzie family silhouette, 1846

Samuel Metford

Gift of the Estate of Nancy Wiseman 2007

Self Portrait #5, 2008

William Yang, John Fukuda

Portrait, inkjet print, black ink on paper

Purchased 2022

12 Untitled Self Portraits (Set 3), 1990

Mike Parr, John Loane

Portrait, drypoint on 12 sheets of paper, unique state prints on paper

Gift of Sara Kelly 2010. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

'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

Jane’s conviction

Stand by your man

John no. 11, 2010

by Alex Cyreszko

Portrait, pastel on paper laid on canvas

Caroline Zilinsky and John Feitelson

Vox pops

John is a very unique character so I really wanted to capture that uniqueness.

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

John Patten (Johnny Jarrett), 1958 Australian bantamweight boxing champion, 2017

by Tiffany Jane Garvie

John Bertrand, 2019

Betina Fauvel-Ogden

John Brack's Portraiture

Google Arts and Culture

Learning resources

Learn about artist John Brack, who said that portraits involve three people: the painter, the sitter and the viewer. For Year 6 – 8 students.

Portrait of John Leonard

Elif Sezen

John Williams, 2006

by Graham McCarter

Portrait photography by John Elliott

Thousand Mile Stare

Thousand mile stare provides a unique portrait of people of rural Australia

'Bud' John Ley and Rod McNichol

Carol Jerrems

In defence of the 'leech ridden ditch'

Bob Brown

Magazine article by Katherine Russell, 2006

Bob Brown discusses the events that occurred during the Franklin River campaign as depicted in his portrait by Harold 'The Kangaroo' Thornton.

Inspiration + Realisation: John Singer Sargent

Katherine Russell examines the art of Australian artist Paul Newton, referencing the portraiture of John Singer Sargent.

All at sea

Tiny token, big love

Jacki Weaver, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2018

Bern Emmerichs

Contributing artists

Born: 1961, Melbourne
Works: Melbourne

Judy Davis with director John Duigan in 'Winter of our Dreams'

Judy Davis with director John Duigan in 'Winter of our Dreams', 1981 (printed 2017)

Purchased 2017

Tan Le, 2018

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

Alex Miller, 1992

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

Alexander Miller

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

3 portraits in the collection

David Malouf, 2012

Commissioned with the assistance of funds provided by the Circle of Friends 2012

Rodney Hall OAM

Rodney Hall OAM (b. 1935), writer, came to Australia in 1947 and settled in Brisbane.

2 portraits in the collection

Samuel Woolf

Samuel Johnson Woolf, American painter, lithographer and illustrator, was born in New York City and named after the English essayist Samuel Johnson.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir James Reading Fairfax KT

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

1 portrait in the collection

David Malouf

David Malouf (b.1934), educated at Brisbane Grammar and the University of Queensland, left Australia at the age of 24 and remained abroad for a decade, teaching in England and travelling throughout Europe.

3 portraits in the collection

Alexis Wright

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint, charcoal, pastel and conté on linen

Alexis Wright (b. 1950), author and activist, won the Miles Franklin Award in 2007 for her novel Carpentaria and the 2018 Stella Prize for her collective memoir Tracker.

1 portrait in the collection

Michelle de Kretser, Geography & History

Michelle de Kretser, Geography & History, 2013

Weng-Ho Chong

Gift of Michelle de Kretser 2015. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

What the world needs now is love, 2012

by Jeremy Shaw

Bob Brown at his home in Liffey, 1988 (printed 2013)

Helga Leunig

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Helga Leunig 2013

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

Janette Howard

Janette Howard (b. 1943), wife of former prime minister the Hon. John Howard OM AC, was born in Sydney.

1 portrait in the collection

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

Sir James Reading Fairfax, 1898

Tom Roberts

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

Bob Brown

NPPP 2012 learning resource

Bob Brown (b. 1944), environmentalist, doctor and former politician, is an environmental campaigner and former Parliamentary Leader of the Australian Greens.

2 portraits in the collection

John McRae

An interview with the photographer.

Alex Miller, novelist, 2022

Hong Fu

Gift of the artist 2022

Porter, Charing Cross, 1824 by John Dempsey

John Dempsey folio

View the full collection of portraits in the exhibition.

Dr John Janson-Moore

Vox pops

The Zammitt Family is part of a massive series of mine that I've been doing since early 2020, documenting COVID in and around Sydney.

William Bligh

by John Webber

A folio of British street portraits 1824–1844

Twice rebelled against, and twice vindicated, William Bligh occupies an ambivalent space in Australian history. Angus Trumble, former Director of the National Portrait Gallery, explains.

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.

Tim Winton, 2019

Sally Robinson

Eva and Finn, 2016

by Noah John Thompson

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

Jeff Fenech and trainer, John Lewis, 1986

Graham McCarter

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

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Australian Cricket (George John Bonnor), 1884

Purchased 2013

Master chef, 2009

by Andrew Sheargold

Previous exhibition, 2022

WHO ARE YOU

Australian portraiture

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.

Alex Miller, 1992

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

Lady Mary Hay

Lady Hay, née Chalmers (c. 1806-1892) was reported at the time of her death to have been about ten years older than Hay.

1 portrait in the collection

A Wool Merchant "Colonial John Bull" [Mr Richard Goldsbrough], 1874

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

Tim Winton, 2019

Sally Robinson

Purchased with funds provided by the Annual Appeal 2020

Louis Nowra

Louis Nowra (b. 1950), writer, grew up in dire family circumstances on a housing commission estate in Melbourne.

1 portrait in the collection

Top of the pops to golden guitars

The Seekers, John Farnham and Lee Kernaghan

Thomas Keneally AO

Thomas Keneally (b.1935), author and republican activist, has achieved a considerable reputation for the breadth and accessibility of his writing, and his passion for causes about which many Australians feel deeply.

1 portrait in the collection

Ellen Stirling, c. 1828

Thomas Phillips

Purchased with funds provided by the Ian Potter Foundation 2008

Sir Vincent Fairfax, 1981

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

2020 Annual Appeal

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

Thea Astley

Thea Astley (1925-2004), novelist, was born in Brisbane and studied arts at the University of Queensland before becoming a teacher.

1 portrait in the collection

Peter Carey AO

Peter Carey (b. 1943) is an author whose novels sweep between the fantastic and the realistic, the comic and the tragic, and the present and the past.

3 portraits in the collection

Dr Brown and Green Old Time Waltz, 1983

Harold Thornton

Gift of the Estate of Harold Thornton 2009

After Ophelia: Fiona Foley at Lake Mackenzie, Fraser Island (Referencing Ophelia by John Everett Millais)

After Ophelia: Fiona Foley at Lake Mackenzie, Fraser Island (Referencing Ophelia by John Everett Millais), 1994

Juno Gemes

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Intense identity

Dr Chistopher Chapman discusses the portrait of Australian author Christos Tsiolkas taken by John Tsiavis.

Dorothy Porter, 2001-2002

Gift of Andrea Goldsmith 2011. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

The painter, 2008

by Jozef Vissel

The last bushrangers

It's Complicated

Brothers in harms

Hong Fu

Vox pops

My subject, he is a writer. He is a big name, very famous writer, Alex Miller, age 85.

Dora Toovey

Dora Toovey, born in Bathurst, trained in Sydney under Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo, James R Jackson (whom she married) and John Passmore.

2 portraits in the collection

James Oswald Fairfax, c. 1991

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

Thea Astley, 1985 (printed 2006)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2006

James Macarthur, c. 1836-1838

Portrait, black and bronze ink with white bodycolour highlight on buff board

Purchased 2019

Joan Croll

An interview with the indomitable Joan Croll, subject of John Brack's portrait.

Sir Vincent Charles Fairfax CMG

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

1 portrait in the collection

Elizabeth Jolley AO

Elizabeth Jolley AO (1923-2007) was a West Australian writer. Born in England, she worked as a nurse during the war and after migrating to Western Australia in 1959, when she also worked as a cleaner and saleswoman.

1 portrait in the collection

Terry Clune

Portrait, eight carte de visites, hand coloured, contained in a red leather presentation case

Terry Clune (b. 1932), gallerist, established Terry Clune Galleries with Frank MacDonald at 59 McLeay Street Potts Point in 1957.

1 portrait in the collection

William and Martha Mary Robertson and their children [William St Leonards, Eliza, John, William St Leonards on a horse, Beatrice and Ida]

William and Martha Mary Robertson and their children [William St Leonards, Eliza, John, William St Leonards on a horse, Beatrice and Ida], 1860s-1870s

Various

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

Professor Sasha Grishin AM

Sasha Grishin AM (birth date undisclosed) is the Sir William Dobell Professor of Art History at the Australian National University.

1 portrait in the collection

Jimmy Barnes at The Coogee Bay Hotel, 1984

Grant Matthews

Gift of John McLean 2008

Xavier Herbert

Xavier Herbert (1901 –1984), author, was born Alfred Jackson to a single mother in Geraldton, WA.

2 portraits in the collection

Dream date delivers destiny

Passion

The perfect match

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

Portrait 49

Winter 2015

This issue features Jude Rae, Arthur Boyd, Darren McDonald, John Singer Sargent, Tom Wills the 'inventor' of Australian Rules Football and more.

Portrait of Mr Geoffrey E. Fairfax, 1929

W.A. Bowring

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

Portrait 45

Winter 2013

This issue features Paul Kelly, Rineke Dijkstra, John Brack, the National Photographic Portrait Prize and more.

Portrait of Sir James Oswald Fairfax, 1929

W.A. Bowring

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

Rudy Komon

Rudy Komon (1908-1982) was an art dealer and gallery director. After working as a journalist in Czechoslovakia, where he served with the Czech resistance during the war, he emigrated to Sydney and opened an antique store.

3 portraits in the collection

James Fairfax AO

James Oswald Fairfax AC (1933-2017) was the eldest son of Sir Warwick Fairfax.

1 portrait in the collection

Kym Bonython

'The man and his cap'

Former National Portrait Gallery Director, Andrew Sayers, describes John Brack's portrait of Kym Bonython.

Portrait 24

June - August 2007

This issue of Portrait Magazine features Robert Hannaford, Walter Lindrum, John Brack, judicial portraits, Vincent Lingiari and more.

Frances (Fanny) Cato, 1933

Gift in memory of Frederick John Cato Kumm 2011. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Henry Samuel Sadd

December 2010 - February 2011

Henry Sadd was born in London and exhibited engravings there before emigrating to the USA some time around 1840.

8 portraits in the collection

Kate

Who are you?

The two portraits that I've chosen to compare and contrast and to bring together a self portrait by John Brack in 1955, and William Yang, Self Portrait #2.

Portrait 38

This issue features Martin Schoeller, Bess Norriss Tait, Emanuel Solomon and the sisters of St Joseph, Rennie Ellis and AC/DC, John Brack and more.

Nat Young, c. 1968

Albert Falzon

December 2004 - February 2005

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John Witzig 2006

Portrait 14

This issue of Portrait Magazine features the exhibition Masters of Fare, Greg Weight's photographic collection, John Elliott, Barbara Blackman and more.

Portrait 27

March - May 2008

This issue of Portrait Magazine feature Lucian Frued, John Witzig, colonial death portraits, William Kinghorne, Henry Crock, and more.

Study of Louis Nowra, 2018

by Imants Tillers

Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Bednall, Jillian Broadbent AO, John Kaldor AO and Naomi Milgrom AO 2018

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

Lady Isabella Louisa Parry

Isabella Louisa Parry (née Stanley, 1801–1839), amateur artist, community worker and collector, was the daughter of Sir John Stanley, first Baron Stanley of Alderley, a Whig politician and member of the Royal Society.

1 portrait in the collection

John and Lottie’s wedding, early 1970s Unknown artist

Shifting the definition

The Lives of Barry Humphries

Defiant commitment

Rarely Everage

Previous exhibition, 2002

The exhibition begins with Barry's childhood in Camberwell, Melbourne and chronicles his days as a struggling actor in Australia and England, his creation of characters including Barry McKenzie, Dame Edna Everage, Sandy Stone and Sir Les Patterson

Portrait 15

March - May 2005

December 2001 - February 2002

This issue of Portrait Magazine features the exhibition The world of Thea Proctor, porcelain sculpture of Dr. John Yu, Pat Mackie, the Kylie Minogue exhibition and more.

Portrait 2

This issue of Portrait Magazine features David Moore, Midnight Oil, Dr Joan Croll by John Brack, the acquisition of the Captain Cook portrait, and more.

Nigel Boonham

Nigel Boonham is a British sculptor. He studied under John Ravera from 1973-1977 and later worked in the studio of sculptor Oscar Nemon.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait 58

Summer 2017-18

Paul Cézanne, Bill Henson and Simone Young, Australian cinema’s iconic women, and feminist portraits by Kate Just.

Portrait 31

March - May 2009

Infamy, the macabre & the portrait

This issue features the new National Portrait Gallery building, James Cook and John Banks, Cate Blanchett, Irina Baranova, Annette Kellerman, Shepard Fairey and more.

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

A colourful story from Sideshow Alley

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

Portrait 40

July - August 2011

This issue features Claudia Karvan & Jimmy Pozarik, Agus Suwage & Contemporary Portraiture from Asia, Fred Williams, Zhong Chen, John Bell, The French Antipodes and more.

Max Loudon

Faces of the Twentieth Century

Max Loudon was photographic assistant to, and darkroom manager for, Athol Shmith and John Cato before becoming a photographer for Rolling Stone Australia.

1 portrait in the collection

Karsh

Previous exhibition, 1998

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.

George Johnston, Fleet Street, London, c. 1952 (printed 2000)

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

The photographers

The eight photographers represent diverse styles, specialities and career paths. Abigail Varney, Peter Brew-Bevan, Martin Philbey, John Tsiavis, Michelle Day, Julian Kingma, and Giovanni Lovisetto.

Martha Mary Robertson with her child William St Leonards Robertson

Martha Mary Robertson with her child William St Leonards Robertson, c. 1865

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

Margaret Robertson, c. 1855

Portrait, daguerreotype, hand coloured

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

Scrapbook page featuring portraits of Fred Lowry and Frank Gardiner

Frederick Lowry

Previous exhibition, 2014

Fred Lowry (1836-1863) was a stockman before he turned to cattle and horse duffing.

1 portrait in the collection

Rick Amor

21 Portraits

Rick Amor, noblest yet most unaffected of contemporary Australian portraitists, is also a painter of enigmatic, ominous landscapes, seascapes and cityscapes that haunt the viewer like dreams, dimly-recalled.

Phillip Law AC AO CBE

Phillip Law AC AO CBE (1912–2010), scientist and Antarctic explorer, developed an interest in the frozen continent as a boy.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait 41

October - November 2011

This issue features Kate Beynon, Philosopher Cynthia Freeland, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, John Tsiavis & Chris Lilley, UK's BP Portrait Award, Purchasing power in colonial Sydney and more.

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.

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

Murray Bail, c. 1990

Jinx Nolan

Gift of an anonymous donor 2021

Peter Dombrovskis

Portrait, pencil, chalk and gouache on paper

Peter Dombrovskis, photographer and environmental activist, was born of Latvian parents in a refugee camp in Wiesbaden at the end of World War 2.

1 portrait in the collection

Jessie Robertson, c. 1849

Thomas Bock

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG and Marilyn Darling AC 2013

William Ridley

Portrait, bromide print on photographic paper

William Ridley, stipple engraver, worked as an illustrator for a variety of magazines.

5 portraits in the collection

Sir Bernard Katz, 1993 (printed 2003)

Nick Sinclair

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2004

Sir Bernard Katz

Bernard Katz (1911-2003), winner of the 1970 Nobel prize for medicine with Ulf von Euler and Julius Axelrod, was naturalised as an Australian citizen in 1941.

1 portrait in the collection

Ruth Park AM

Ruth Park (1917–2010) was born in New Zealand and lived there until 1942.

1 portrait in the collection

Harry Borden

Harry Borden is an English photographer who has specialised in photographing celebrities, among them Kylie Minogue.

1 portrait in the collection

Lily Brett OAM

Lily Brett OAM (b. 1946) is a New York-based novelist, essayist and poet.

2 portraits in the collection

Icons Syndicate

Listed alphabetically

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2008

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.

Rudy Komon, c. 1970

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

Sir Warwick Fairfax, 1981

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

Christine Anu

Christine Anu (b. 1970), singer/songwriter and actor, was born in Cairns, Queensland.

1 portrait in the collection

Bart Willoughby

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

2 portraits in the collection

Denton Corker Marshall

Portrait, charcoal heightened with white chalk on paper

Denton Corker Marshall is based in Melbourne with offices in London and Jakarta.

Sir Sidney Kidman, 1932

Samuel Woolf

Purchased 2009

Study for The Writer, Peter Goldsworthy, 2018

Deidre But-Husaim

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with funds provided by Jillian Broadbent AC and Dr Helen Nugent AO 2018

Dr Phillip Law, 1974

Dallas Hawes

Gift of Dr Phillip Law 2000. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Michelle de Kretser

Michelle de Kretser (b. 1957), author, came to Melbourne with her Sinhalese Dutch parents in 1972.

1 portrait in the collection

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

Elizabeth Sarah Ellen Carter

Elizabeth Sarah Ellen Carter (née Hill, 1845-1927) was one of the eight children born to Sydney cabinetmaker and undertaker John Hill jnr and his wife Elizabeth - the step-daughter of ex-convict boatman, John Cadman.

1 portrait in the collection

The Writer, Peter Goldsworthy, 2018

Deidre But-Husaim

Commissioned with funds provided by Jillian Broadbent AC and Dr Helen Nugent AO 2018

Magna Carta

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint on board

On this day eight hundred years ago at Runnymede near Windsor, King John signed Magna Carta.

Peter Carey in Kelly country, 2000

Bruce Armstrong

Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001

Judith O'Conal-Prinz

Judith O’Conal grew up in Sydney’s Rocks area and became interested in art as she repeatedly passed the plaque advertising the Julian Ashton School.

1 portrait in the collection

Murray Bail, c. 1980 (printed 2018)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Dr Ludwig Leichhardt, 1846

Charles Rodius

Purchased 2004

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

Welcome home, Captain Bligh

27 March 2015

The National Portrait Gallery will, next Tuesday, unveil an exciting new acquisition of irrefutable importance to all Australians. Portrait of William Bligh, in master’s uniform c. 1776, attributed to John Webber, is one of the earliest portraits of the contentious, historical figure, and extends the Gallery’s remarkable collection of early colonial portraits.

Tim Winton

Tim Winton (b. 1960) is the author of 29 books, with his work translated into 28 languages.

2 portraits in the collection

Lily Brett, n.d. (printed 2021)

Portrait, pastel with ink wash on paper

Purchased with funds provided by Jillian Broadbent AC 2021

Self portrait, c. 1849

Charles Rodius

Purchased 2009

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2017

Previous exhibition, 2017

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.

To coin a (farewell) phrase

A penny for their thoughts

Buoyant Brack brood breeds inspiration

Previous exhibition, 2008

Domesticity’s creative maelstrom

My Favourite Australian

My Favourite Australian is a project developed in collaboration with ABC TV and the people of Australia.

William Robertson, c. 1852

Portrait, 1/6 plate daguerreotype, hand coloured with case

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

M.O. Ranger 3: Preparatory study for 'Nothing's as precious as a hole in the ground'

M.O. Ranger 3: Preparatory study for 'Nothing's as precious as a hole in the ground', 2001

eX de Medici

Portrait, watercolour, gouache and pencil on paper

Commissioned with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001

Richard Fitzgerald

Richard Fitzgerald (1772-1840), convict, public servant and settler, spent four years of his seven-year sentence imprisoned (probably on a floating 'hulk') at Portsmouth before arriving in Sydney in 1791, along with his private assets.

1 portrait in the collection

George Andronicus, 1985 (printed 2018)

Gary Ede

Portraits from prime time

Purchased with funds provided by Wayne Williams 2018

Ryder Jack Susman in a Williamstown hairdresser by Abigail Varney

PROMO

Previous exhibition, 2014

This exhibition goes behind-the-scenes and into the spotlight with professional photographers and the stars of Australian television, music and comedy. Whether negotiating the logistics of a big publicity shoot or quietly capturing moments on set during filming, the photographers' stories are intriguing and compelling.

The Quiet Australian

Magazine article by Brian Dale, 2001

Robert Oatley talks about the repatriation of the John Webber portrait of Captain James Cook.

Alfred George Stephens

Alfred George Stephens (1865–1933), editor, journalist and publisher, was born and educated in Toowoomba.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait of Elizabeth Jolley, 2003

Mary Moore

Commissioned with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2003

Jean Isherwood OAM

Jean Isherwood OAM (1911–2006), artist, was born in Marrickville and won a scholarship to the National Art School at East Sydney Technical College at the age of fourteen.

1 portrait in the collection

Portraits for Posterity

Drawn from some of the many donations made to the Gallery's collection, the exhibition Portraits for Posterity pays homage both to the remarkable (and varied) group of Australians who are portrayed in the portraits and the generosity of the many donors who have presented them to the Gallery.

Sarah and Ann Jacob, c. 1866

Townsend Duryea

Magazine article by Giles Auty, 2002

Purchased 2018

The man behind the art

Giles Auty introduces British painter John Wonnacott who will talk at the National Portrait Gallery on 2 November 2002.

Shirley Hazzard

Previous exhibition, 2003

Shirley Hazzard (1931-2016) writer, spent her childhood in Sydney but left with her parents at the age of sixteen for South East Asia and New Zealand.

1 portrait in the collection

Australia and the Nobel Prize

This unique exhibition will give an insight into the private lives, pursuits and work of all the Nobel laureates associated with Australia

Josonia Palaitis

Josonia Palaitis trained as an art teacher in Sydney in the early 1970s, and experimented with diverse painting styles before settling into the photorealist mode for which she became best known.

1 portrait in the collection

Pam MacFarlane

Portrait, tempera on masonite

Pamela MacFarlane was born in Dunedin, NZ and completed a Master's degree in Zoology at the University of Otago in the 1940s.

1 portrait in the collection

The chase, 1952

Charles Blackman OBE

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

Thomas Keneally, 1987

Bernd Heinrich

Portrait, pastel on paper laid on canvas

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2005
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

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.

Kate Hattam

Kathleen 'Kate' Hattam (1923–2004), stylesetter and art collector, was born in London and served with the Women’s Royal Air Force during the Second World War, stationed in radar at Beachey Head.

1 portrait in the collection

Christos Tsiolkas

Christos Tsiolkas (b. 1965) is a Melbourne-born writer of Greek descent, whose work deals uncompromisingly with sexuality, identity and politics.

2 portraits in the collection

Danny, 2013

by Daniel Arnaldi

Lifelines

Medical advocates

Fiona Stanley, Fiona Wood, Fred Hollows, Patrick McGorry and John Yu

Noah Taylor, 1994 (printed 2010)

Ross Honeysett

Portrait, enamel on canvas

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2010

Dr Joseph Brown with Two Typists, 1996

Noel McKenna

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

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

Captain Robert Clark Morgan

Captain Robert Clark Morgan (1798-1864), Christian mariner, whaler and diarist, entered the Royal Navy at the age of eleven, leaving at sixteen for the merchant marine and beginning a career in whaling, a pursuit he relished.

1 portrait in the collection

Chester Porter QC

From the age of thirteen Chester Porter QC (1926–2021) knew he wanted to be a barrister.

1 portrait in the collection

Chester Porter QC, 1997

Graeme Inson

Gift of Jean Porter and family 2021. Donated through the Australia Government’s Cultural Gifts Program.

Murray Bail

Murray Bail (b. 1941), writer, was born in Adelaide and spent several years in India and England in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

3 portraits in the collection

Carl Cooper

Carl Cooper (1912-1966), ceramic decorator, contracted poliomyelitis in his twenties.

1 portrait in the collection

Murray Bail, 1980-1981

Fred Williams

Gift of an anonymous donor 1999. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Polly Borland

Polly Borland, born in Melbourne in 1959, began her photographic career in Australia before moving to London in 1989.

23 portraits in the collection

Rose Scott

Rose Scott (1847-1925), feminist and social reformer, devoted much of her life to campaigns that resulted in increased independence for Australian women.

1 portrait in the collection

Waiting for Zipporah (Christine Anu), 2002

Elizabeth Barden

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2004

Barbara Blackman, 2008

Gorgi Dimcevski

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Barbara Blackman 2009

James Wilson

James Wilson (1760–1840), naval officer, was the commander of a ship called the Duff, which in 1797 brought a group of missionaries from the London Missionary Society to Tahiti.

1 portrait in the collection

Dorothy Porter

Dorothy Porter (1954–2008), poet and writer, grew up in Sydney and the Blue Mountains, graduated from the University of Sydney in 1975 and taught creative writing at the University of Technology, Sydney.

1 portrait in the collection

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]

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.

Roo shooter's offsider, 2017

by Adam Ferguson

Previous exhibition, 2018

Carte-o-mania!

Drawn from the NPG’s burgeoning collection of cartes de visite, Carte-o-mania! celebrates the wit, style and substance of the pocket-sized portraits that were taken and collected like crazy in post-goldrush Australia.

Barbara Blackman AO

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

'Night studio No. 2'

Cynthia Breusch

William Robertson

William Robertson (1798-1874), pastoralist and entrepreneur, was a key player in the settlement of Victoria in the 1830s.

3 portraits in the collection

Study for portrait of Frank Fenner AC CMG MBE

Professor Frank Fenner AC CMG MBE FAA FRS

Professor Frank Fenner's outstanding career has been marked by two achievements of considerable magnitude, namely the eradication of smallpox and the introduction of myxomatosis in Australia for rabbit control.

4 portraits in the collection

Bart Willoughby, c. 2000

Penny Tweedie

Gift of the artist 2004

Ilsa Konrads

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2009

Ilsa Konrads arrived with her brother and parents from Lativa in 1949.

1 portrait in the collection

Where the wild things are

Michael Desmond explores the complex portrait of Dr Bob Brown by Harold 'The Kangaroo' Thornton.

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

Australian Love stories

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

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.

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

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

Juno Gemes

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

Steve Irwin

Steve Irwin (1962-2006) achieved international fame as the 'Crocodile Hunter'.

1 portrait in the collection

Kylie

An Exhibition

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

In the National Interest

Geoffrey Dyer

Geoff Dyer (1947-2020) was renowned landscape and portrait painter whose practice depicted Tasmania and its people.

1 portrait in the collection

Foundation members announced

18 May 2015

The newly-established National Portrait Gallery Foundation met for its inaugural meeting last Friday 15 May in Canberra.

Ben Chifley, n.d.

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

David Naseby

David Naseby (1937–2022) was born in England and studied in the United Kingdom before coming to Australia in 1953.

8 portraits in the collection

Prime Ministers

On the day before the Hon. E. G. Whitlam, AC, QC, died last month, at the great age of 98, there were seven former prime ministers of Australia still living, plus the incumbent Mr. Abbott – eight in all.

Top of their game

Nobel Laureates

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2005

Macfarlane Burnet and Patrick White

Rock Island Bend. Franklin River, South West Tasmania, 1979 by Peter Dombrovskis

Written in Water

Olegas Truchanas and Peter Dombrovskis, photographers and conservationists, shared a love of photography and exploring wilderness areas of Tasmania.

Face the Music

Magazine article by Abdul Abdullah, 2015

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

Observation point

I wanted to be a journalist. I was very idealistic and I had a big chip on my shoulder. I wanted to investigate the human condition, drawing attention to those in need with the hope of someday effecting positive change.

Lewis Pingo

Lewis Pingo was an engraver at the Royal Mint. Pingo's father Thomas, an Italian-born medallist and die engraver, was one of the founders of the Royal Academy in 1768.

1 portrait in the collection

Richard Flanagan

Richard Flanagan (b. 1961) was born in Longford in northern Tasmania, the second youngest of the six children of Archie Flanagan, a primary school principal, and his wife Helen.

1 portrait in the collection

Man with two lives

Caroline Zilinsky

Archived media releases 2014

Arcadia media information

31 July 2014

Press releases and image downloads for media.

A G Stephens, c. 1910 (printed later)

Previous exhibition, 2001

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Nolan Heads

Nolan Heads will focus on the portraiture of one of Australia's most original painters and one of the few to have achieved an international reputation

Darren McDonald

Darren McDonald gained his Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting) degree from RMIT in 2000, having completed an associate diploma in painting at the same institution.

1 portrait in the collection

2014-15 Acquisition Fund

Previous exhibition, 2011

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

Indecent exposure

Annette Kellerman

'Diving Venus' and 'the perfect woman' are two of the numerous descriptions applied to Annette Kellerman, who achieved international fame during the early decades of the twentieth century.

Fred Hilmer AO

Fred Hilmer AO (b. 1945), economic policy and reform strategist, was the chief executive officer of John Fairfax Holdings from 1998 to 2005 and vice- chancellor of the University of New South Wales from 2006 to 2015.

1 portrait in the collection

Clifton Pugh AO

Clifton Pugh AO was one of Australia’s best-known artists of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and one of its leading advocates for the arts.

12 portraits in the collection

The Dipper

Moustaches

One of the versions of thick, macho moustache strongly associated in the Australian visual lexicon with sportsmen of the 1970s and 80s.

Peter Goldsworthy AM

Peter Goldsworthy AM (b. 1951), medical doctor and writer, was born in Minlaton, South Australia, and grew up in various country towns as his father, a school teacher, moved for work.

2 portraits in the collection

W.A. Bowring

Walter Bowring, born and educated in Auckland, contributed cartoons to the New Zealand observer and The weekly press, exhibited with the Canterbury Society of Arts and studied with Orpen and John in London, where he contributed to Punch, before arriving in Sydney in 1925.

3 portraits in the collection

Jeremiah Ware

Jeremiah Ware (1792–1878) arrived in Van Diemen’s Land in 1822 with his wife, Mary (née Brooks, c.

1 portrait in the collection

Mary Ware

Jeremiah Ware (1792–1878) arrived in Van Diemen’s Land in 1822 with his wife, Mary (née Brooks, c.

1 portrait in the collection

Fred Hilmer, 2018

Evert Ploeg

Commissioned with funds provided by Dr Helen Nugent AO 2018

The Rt. Hon Sir Garfield Barwick AK GCMG QC

The Rt Hon Sir Garfield Barwick AK GCMG QC (1903–1997) was Chief Justice of Australia from 27 April 1964 to 11 February 1981 – the longest serving Chief Justice of Australia.

2 portraits in the collection

Eleanor Wingate

Eleanor Wingate (née Rouse, 1813–1898) was the second youngest daughter of colonial public servant and landowner Richard Rouse (1774–1852) and his wife Elizabeth (née Adams, 1772–1849), who’d come to Sydney as free settlers in 1801.

1 portrait in the collection

Jenny Sages

Jenny Sages (b. 1933), artist, was born to Russian Jewish parents in Shanghai and came to Australia with her family in 1948.

34 portraits in the collection

Negotiating a family portrait-a study of history, myth and identity, 2015 Family, 2015

by Marzena Wasikowska

Arthur Boyd portraits from 1945

Mysterious eyes

Previous exhibition, 2016

Boyd’s self-portrait at age 25 is joined by his equally emotive portraits of those around him.

Alana Landsberry

Alana Landsberry (b. 1982) is a Sydney-based professional photographer who specialises in portrait, lifestyle, beauty and fashion photography.

2 portraits in the collection

The Lady of Shalott, 2019

Colleen Stapleton

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

Danila Vassilieff

Danila Vassilieff, born in Russia, arrived in Australia in the early 1920s having served in a Cossack cavalry regiment, been captured by Communist forces and escaped via Persia and India to China.

1 portrait in the collection

Victor Greenhalgh

Victor Greenhalgh (1900-1983) was a sculptor and teacher who greatly influenced tertiary art education; he was one of the first Victorian sculptors to adopt a modern style.

5 portraits in the collection

Sophie and Ann Cape – artists, 2014

by Gary Grealy

J.W. Beattie

John Beattie (1859-1930) came to Tasmania from Scotland at the age of nineteen, in 1878.

3 portraits in the collection

Joy Hester

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

Lesley Moline

'When I grow up I want to be an astronaut'

West Australian-born Lesley Moline (née O’Toole) studied at Perth Technical College before moving to Melbourne in 1933.

1 portrait in the collection

Andy Thomas

An interview with Australian astronaut, Dr. Andy Thomas, who describes the experience of space travel.

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

Annette Kellerman

Annette Kellerman (1886–1975), champion swimmer and entertainer, was among the early twentieth century's most recognisable women.

2 portraits in the collection

June Mendoza AO OBE

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

Neville Amadio AM MBE

Melbourne and Sydney Photographic Co

Neville Amadio AM MBE (1913-2006), flautist, played for some fifty years with iterations of the same Sydney orchestra, first called the 2FC Broadcasting Orchestra, then the ABC Orchestra then, from 1934, the Sydney Symphony.

1 portrait in the collection

Robert O'Hara Burke, c. 1860

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Reginald Jerrold-Nathan

Reginald Henry Jerrold-Nathan (1889-1979) arrived in Australia from London in 1924, having studied under John Singer Sargent and William Orpen at the Royal Academy, where he was awarded a medal for portrait painting.

2 portraits in the collection

Eleanor Wingate (née Rouse), c. 1850

Portrait, hand coloured photograph

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

Inner Worlds

Portraits and Psychology

Previous exhibition, 2011

Portraits of Australia’s pioneering psychologists and artworks by artists fascinated by the subconscious mind.

Molly Meldrum

Portraits in the Landscape

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

Open Air

Previous exhibition, 2008

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

Rennie Ellis

Aussies All

Rennie Ellis: Aussies All is a celebration of the life and work of the late Australian photographer Rennie Ellis.

Xavier Herbert, early 1980s (printed 2018)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Rt Hon. Sir Robert Menzies, c. 1962

Victor Greenhalgh

Portrait, cast bronze

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Lady Bunting in honour of Sir John Bunting and the Menzies Foundation 1999
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Elliott and Fry

Elliott & Fry, a photography studio and photographic film manufacturer, was founded in 1863 at 55-56 Baker Street, London by Joseph John Elliott and Clarence Edmund Fry.

2 portraits in the collection

Annual Appeal

Listed by year

Sir Warwick Oswald Fairfax

Sir Warwick Oswald Fairfax (1901-1987), grandson of Sarah and James Fairfax, was the only son of Sir James Fairfax, who had become a partner in the company in the 1880s.

1 portrait in the collection

Professor Peter Doherty AC

Professor Peter Doherty (b. 1940), immunologist, shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1996 for his discoveries about how the immune system recognises virus-infected cells.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Summers, late 1860s

Portrait, pencil on paper laid down on masonite

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

Portrait of Elioth Gruner, c. 1922

Norman Lindsay

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Vincent Day and John Bradley 2017

Thomas de Kessler

Thomas de Kessler, artist, came to Australia from Hungary in 1950. Born into an academic and creative family, he spoke several languages and had attended art school before arriving in Melbourne.

3 portraits in the collection

Portrait of Dr Johann Reinhold Forster and his son George Forster

Portrait of Dr Johann Reinhold Forster and his son George Forster, c. 1780

Jean Francois Rigaud

Learning resource archive

Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family, the Ian Potter Foundation and John Schaeffer AO 2009

Arcadia learning resource

A great addition to themes such as Australian History, Sport, Australian Studies, Cultural Studies, English and Visual Arts. For Year 9 – 12 students.

Noah Taylor

Noah Taylor (b. 1969) left school at 16 to join Melbourne's St Martin's Youth Theatre.

1 portrait in the collection

Howard Tangye

Figurative abstract artist and designer Howard Tangye was born in Queensland in 1948 and lived and worked in London from the 1970s until recently.

1 portrait in the collection

Kerry Walker, c. 1979

Stuart Campbell

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Estate of Stuart Campbell 2012

Henry Meyer

Henry Hoppner Meyer, thought to be the son of an engraver, was a nephew of the painter John Hoppner.

2 portraits in the collection

David McKenzie Dow OBE

David McKenzie Dow OBE (1870-1953) was official secretary for Australia in America in 1924-31, and acting commissioner-general in 1931-38.

1 portrait in the collection

Reg Campbell

Reg Campbell was a self-taught painter specialising in landscapes and portraits.

1 portrait in the collection

Frank Fenner AC CMG MBE, 2007

Jude Rae

Magazine article by Djon Mundine OAM, 2017

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

Big shots

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

Martin Philbey

Martin Philbey (b. 1962) is a Melbourne-based photographer who has amassed an archive of 100,000 images over his twenty-year career.

4 portraits in the collection

Sir Eric Neal AC CVO

Sir Eric Neal trained as an engineer at the South Australian School of Mines.

1 portrait in the collection

First Australian first-class cricket team

Frederick Bromley after Robert Frain

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

Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, 1842

Portrait drawings from colonial Australia

Purchased with funds provided by Ross A Field 2008

Elegance in exile

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.

Material culture

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2018

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

Cook in context

Magazine article by Diana Warnes, 2007

Robert Oatley's continuing benefaction has helped the National Portrait Gallery acquire works that add another layer to the story of Captain Cook.

James Quinn

James Quinn was born in Melbourne and trained at the NGV School before studying in Paris from the mid-1890s to 1902.

1 portrait in the collection

Michael Anderson

Michael Anderson, sheep farmer and Aboriginal land rights activist, was born in Brewarrina, NSW.

1 portrait in the collection

Richard Henry Horne, mid 1860s

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

In the galleries

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

William Robertson, 1866

Thomas Adams Hill

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

Vagabond #10

Mark Tweedie

This airport’s gone to the dogs

Right-hound man

Adam Chang (Hong Jun Zhang)

Adam Chang (Hong Jun Zhang) (b. 1960), in a Sydney based portrait painter.

2 portraits in the collection

May Emmeline Wirth

May Emmeline Wirth (1894–1978), circus performer, was once described as the ‘greatest lady bareback rider of all time’.

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

Margaret Robertson, c. 1852

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

Professor Kelvin Kong AM

Kelvin Kong AM is a Worimi doctor who grew up in Port Stephens, New South Wales.

1 portrait in the collection

Guy Stuart

Guy Stuart (1942-2024) studied under John Brack at Melbourne Grammar School between 1956 and 1960.

1 portrait in the collection

Kerry Walker AM

Kerry Walker AM, actor, graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1974 and made her professional stage debut in a melée in Act 1 of Romeo and Juliet with the Australian Ballet.

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

Self portrait, 1971

Thomas de Kessler

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Diana de Kessler 2009

Michael Meszaros

Michael Meszaros has worked full-time as a sculptor for thirty years.

5 portraits in the collection

Garry Shead

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

4 portraits in the collection

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

A & G Taylor

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

Tony Clark

Canberra-born artist Tony Clark moved to London with his family in 1960.

1 portrait in the collection

Hal Hattam

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

Mark Strizic

A Journey in Photography

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

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

Margaret Robertson, c. 1863

Batchelder & O'Neill

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

Lucio Galletto OAM

Lucio Galletto OAM (birth date undisclosed) was born into a family of farmers and restaurateurs in north-west Italy.

1 portrait in the collection

Jacqueline Mitelman

Previous exhibition, 1999

Jacqueline Mitelman (b. 1952), photographer, was born in Scotland and moved to Australia with her family at the age of five.

23 portraits in the collection

Arthur Boyd Portraits

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

Betina Fauvel-Ogden

A Portrait of Colonial Australia

Betina Fauvel-Ogden was born in Adelaide and lives and works in Melbourne.

2 portraits 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

Sidney Nolan, 1964

Axel Poignant

Purchased 2003

Jessie Whyte

Jessie Whyte (née Walker, 1779–1864). Born in Berwickshire, Scotland, Jessie married George Whyte (d.

1 portrait in the collection

Nathan Kelly

Nathan Kelly (b. 1976), photographer, studied fine arts at the Sydney College of the Arts at the University of Sydney before being named as one of Australia’s top 30 photography graduates by Australian Commercial Photography magazine.

3 portraits in the collection

Edward Richards

Edward Richards, photographer, has lived and worked in Canberra for most of his life.

1 portrait in the collection

Harry Hopman

Harry Hopman (1906-1985), tennis professional, won seven major Australian titles in the 1930s, notably four mixed doubles with his first wife, Nell Hall.

1 portrait in the collection

Dorothy, 1990 (printed 2013)

Michael Riley

Purchased 2013

Bathing woman, Bridlington, c.1825 by John Dempsey

Allow me to introduce...

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.

Lost in thought, 2008

by Quentin Jones

Magazine article by Sandra Bruce, 2022

Unboxed

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

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.

Essington Lewis, 1952

Sir William Dargie CBE

Gift of BHP Billiton 2003. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Lady Jessie and Sir Donald Bradman, Kensington Park, Adelaide, South Australia

Sir Donald Bradman AC

Sir Donald Bradman AC (1908-2001), Australia's preeminent cricketer, is regularly named the greatest player the game has ever known.

2 portraits in the collection

Maude Shipp

Maude Shipp (1895-1964), vaudevillian, debuted as ‘Little Maude Shipp, the Wonderful Baby Performer’ around May 1900, as a member of the troupe managed by her father, Edwin ‘Teddy’ Shipp (c.

1 portrait in the collection

Toni Wilkinson

Toni Wilkinson emigrated with her family from London to Perth in the early 1970s.

6 portraits in the collection

Self portrait as Sarah Wisse, Transported

Self portrait as Sarah Wisse, Transported, 1996

Margaret Woodward

Previous exhibition, 1999

Gift of the Karmel family in memory of Lena and Peter Karmel 2018. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

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.

Cecil Beaton

Portraits

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.

George Selth Coppin

George Coppin (1819-1906), comedian, entrepreneur and politician, cut his teeth in the world of the English itinerant theatre.

2 portraits in the collection

Nell Gwyn

Simon Verelst

Miranda Otto

Portrait, conté crayon and charcoal on paper

Miranda Otto (b. 1967), actress, is the daughter of the prominent Australian actor Barry Otto.

3 portraits in the collection

Ina Gregory, c. 1895

E. Phillips Fox

Purchased 2012

Colin Lanceley

Australian Athletes in Focus

Colin Lanceley (b. 1938), painter, printmaker and sculptor, arrived in Australia from New Zealand as a baby.

2 portraits in the collection

Flash

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2010

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

Poison pen

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

Roy and HG: John Doyle as Roy Slaven (L) and Grieg Pickhaver as HG Nelson: in studio (radio), c. 1990 Reproduced by permission of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation – Library Sales. © 1990 ABC

Relationship boundaries breed marathon success

A bromance in banter

Paul Newton

Celebrating 100 years of the Historic Memorials Collection

Paul Newton (b. 1961), is a Sydney-based portrait painter noted for his ability to capture likeness and sensibility.

6 portraits in the collection

Of Kings and men

Previous exhibition, 2011

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

Robert Henderson Croll

Robert Henderson Croll (1869-1947), author, worked as a clerk in the Victorian public service for over 40 years, but is better remembered for his books and journalism.

2 portraits in the collection

Dean Beletich

Dean Beletich (b. 1968), artist and photographer, studied at Newcastle Art School, the National Art School Sydney and the University of Newcastle from 1987 to 1991.

1 portrait in the collection

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

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

2 portraits in the collection

Famous

Karin Catt Portraits

Australian photographer Karin Catt has photographed world leaders, a host of rock stars and Oscar-winning compatriots Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, and Cate Blanchett.

Dalu Zhao

Dalu Zhao, Beijing-born artist, worked during the Cultural Revolution in Heilongjiang Province, like his countryman Jiawei Shen.

1 portrait in the collection

Adela R. Walker

Adela Russell Walker (1847–1932), the youngest of her parents' thirteen children, was born in Longford and was 22 when she married George Coleridge Nixon, who was the son of Francis Russell Nixon – an amateur artist and Anglican Bishop of Tasmania from 1843 to 1862.

1 portrait in the collection

Rex Battarbee

Five Years of National Portrait Gallery Commissions

Rex Battarbee OBE (1893-1973), art teacher, had no formal training in art before he won the Melbourne Centenary Prize for Watercolour in 1934.

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

The inside story

Previous exhibition, 2007

The photographers reveal the technical side of their work and reflect on changes in their profession. Now everyone has a camera in their pocket, is everyone a photographer? What is it like to sustain a career as a photographer in the entertainment industry? How do you work with celebrity subjects, negotiate the complex logistics of big shoots, and create captivating portraits under pressure?

Portrait Paintings by Matthew Perceval

From 1967 until 1981 Matthew Perceval lived and painted in France and during those years produced a large body of portrait paintings.

Hal Hattam, 1960

Fred Williams

Portrait, oil on masonite

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

Gordon Watson AM

Previous exhibition, 2017

Gordon Watson AM (1921-1999), pianist and teacher, taught at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music from 1964 to 1986 and was head of its keyboard department when he retired.

1 portrait in the collection

Nicholas Harding

28 Portraits

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.

Melbourne Spurr

Melbourne Spurr, born in Decorah, Iowa, arrived in Hollywood around 1917.

2 portraits in the collection

Reputedly Elizabeth Macarthur, 1785-1790 Unknown

The most material advantages

A one-in-a-thousand woman

Syvanna Doolan

Carol Jerrems

Syvanna Doolan, National Black Theatre, Redfern, Sydney, 1974

Carol Jerrems

Johannes Heyer

Magazine article by Jessica Smith, 2009

Johannes Heyer was born at Germantown (Grovedale) near Geelong in Victoria.

1 portrait in the collection

Sketches and sermons

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

Googie Withers AO

Australian Painters Photographed by R. Ian Lloyd

Georgette Lizette (Googie) Withers AO (1917–2011), stage, film and television actor, was born in India and studied drama at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London.

1 portrait in the collection

Studio

Previous exhibition, 2007

Studio: Australian Painters Photographed by R

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

Clem Seale and Robert Emerson Curtis, c. 1944

Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

Davida Allen

Davida Allen is a Queensland artist. As a student at Brisbane's Stuartholme School in the 1960s she had Betty Churcher as an art teacher.

2 portraits in the collection

Rt. Hon. Malcolm Fraser AC CH

Portrait, pencil and watercolour on paper

The Rt. Hon John Malcolm Fraser AC CH PC (1930-2015) was Prime Minister of Australia from 1975 to 1983.

5 portraits in the collection

Alice Want, 1853

William Nicholas

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

Portrait of George Selth Coppin, c. 1895-1899

Tom Roberts

Portrait, oil on cedar panel

Purchased with funds provided by Mary Isabel Murphy 2004

R O'Hara Burke, c. 1861

De Gruchy & Leigh

William Skelton after J. Wright

Purchased 2009

Lieutenant King, 1789

Purchased 2010

Lawrence Daws

Ben Hall and his gang outdone, 6 February 1865

1 portrait in the collection

Percy, Reginald, Monty and George Faithfull, undated by Henry Dorner. Image courtesy the National Museum of Australia.

An affray which deserves particular mention

Bushranger Ben Hall and his cronies held around 40 people hostage in a pub north-west of Goulburn, telling their captives ‘don’t be alarmed; we only came here for a bit of fun’.

William Griffith

William Griffith (c. 1808-1870) emigrated to Australia around 1840 and moved to Parramatta with his wife, Susan, whom he had married ten days after landing in Sydney.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait of Harriet Swan, c. 1842

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG and Marilyn Darling AC 2013

Portrait of Julia Swan, c. 1842

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG and Marilyn Darling AC 2013

Terry Snow and China, 2017

Jude Rae

Significant Australian Women 1913–2013

Commissioned with funds provided by Dr Justin Garrick & Dharini Ganesan Rasu, Dino Nikias & Dimitra Nikias, Jim Windeyer, Claudia Hyles OAM, Sotiria Liangis AM & John Liangis, The Hon Mary Finn, Bill Farmer AO & Elaine Farmer, Tim Efkarpidis, Bob Nattey & Charlotte Nattey, Jennifer Bott AO, Keith Bradley, Dr Sam Whittle & Heather Whittle 2017

First Ladies

Previous exhibition, 2013

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

Rt Hon Sir Zelman Cowen AK GCMG GCVO QC DCL

The Rt Hon Sir Zelman Cowen AK GCMG GCVO QC DCL (1919-2011), academic, writer and former Governor-General, was educated at Scotch College and the University of Melbourne before serving in the navy in the Second World War.

3 portraits in the collection

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

Julia Margaret Cameron

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

1 portrait in the collection

Miss Elizabeth Roberts, 1830

Richard Read Jnr

Purchased 2013

Fanny Jane Marlay, c. 1841

Purchased 2013

Buckley discovering himself to the early settlers

William Buckley

Portrait, platinum photograph on printed card

William Buckley (1780-1856), known as 'the wild white man', was transported for life in 1802 for receiving stolen cloth.

1 portrait in the collection

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

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

18 October 2018

Archived media releases 2018

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

2022 Annual Appeal

Frederick George Reynolds

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.

The Streetons’ rich serenade

Passion

If music be the food of love

Robert Henderson Croll, 1927

Portrait, oil on canvas on board

Gift of Grietje Croll in memory of her late husband Robert Devereaux Croll and with the endorsement of his daughter Helen Croll 2013. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Buckley discovering himself to the early settlers, 1869

S Calvert, Gibbs, Shallard and Co after O.R. Campbell

Portrait, colour wood engraving on paper

Purchased 2009

Thomas Phillips

Thomas Phillips was born in Dudley, Warwickshire and initially trained as a glass painter before moving to London, aged 20, with a letter of introduction to the painter Benjamin West.

6 portraits in the collection

Jean Shepeard

Previous exhibition, 2009

Jean Shepeard was an actress and artist who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

1 portrait 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.

Reflection

Magazine article by Michael Rosen, 2013

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

Zelman Cowen, c. 1977

Ray Crooke AM

Portrait, pencil and oil on canvas laid on chipboard

Gift of David Crooke 2011. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Jenny Watson

Jenny Watson (b. 1951), painter and lecturer, studied painting at the NGV school and completed her Dip.

2 portraits in the collection

Raelene Sharp

Raelene Sharp (b. 1957), artist, was born in Melbourne and began her career as a graphic artist in advertising.

2 portraits in the collection

Portrait of Deborah Vernon Hackett, c. 1905

Florence Ada Fuller

Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2005

Clyde Cameron

Clyde Cameron (1913-2008), Labor politician and historian, worked as a shearer and union organizer before serving as a Member for Hindmarsh between 1949 and 1980.

1 portrait in the collection

The World of Thea Proctor

Portrait, pen and ink, brush and ink on paper

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

Googie Withers, 1962

Don Bachardy

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999

Icons

Parliament House

Touring exhibition, 2019

When a portrait communicates determination and individuality as boldly as these do, it has the potential to become an iconic image. For the Gallery’s 20th birthday this display brings together a group contemporary photographic portraits of inspiring women and men.

Tim Storrier

Tim Storrier AM (b. 1949), painter, studied at the National Art School from 1967 to 1969.

4 portraits in the collection

Fred Williams

Fred Williams OBE, painter and etcher, was one of the most important Australian artists of the twentieth century.

14 portraits in the collection

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

Dempsey's people

Portrait, watercolour, pen, brush and ink on paper

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.

I think of my Culture, 1989

Jeffrey Samuels

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

POL

Portrait of a Generation

Previous exhibition, 2003

POL was a magazine that ran from 1969 to 1986

Two gentlemen celebrating a birthday (Frank Watters and Geoffrey Legge), 1974

Bob Jenyns

Portrait, painted wood, denim, wool, plastic and candles

Gift of Frank Watters OAM 2018. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Sir Kenneth Gillespie

Sir Kenneth Gillespie (1929–2010), dancer, teacher and founder of the Tasmanian Ballet, left his native Launceston at age sixteen to join the Borovansky Ballet in Melbourne.

1 portrait in the collection

Don Watson

Don Watson (b. 1949), writer, is an authority on aspects of Australian history, culture, politics and language.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles, 1824 by James Thomson

Audacity, audacity, audacity

Angus delves into the biographies of two ambitious characters; Sir Stamford Raffles and Sir John Pope-Hennessy.

Shane Maloney

Shane Maloney (b. 1953) is the creator of the popular 'Murray Whelan' series of six crime novels, beginning with Stiff (1994) and The Brush-Off (1996) and currently ending at Sucked In (2007).

1 portrait in the collection

Jessie Robertson

Jessie Robertson (1835–1849) was the eldest of the seven children of pastoralist and businessman, William Robertson (1798–1874), and his wife Margaret (née Whyte, 1811–1866).

1 portrait in the collection

Frederick George Reynolds

Frederick George Reynolds was born in London, the son of a watercolourist, Frederick G Reynolds senior, who was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy.

1 portrait in the collection

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.

Peter Allen

Peter Allen (1944–1992), singer/songwriter and entertainer, was born Peter Allen Woolnough in Tenterfield, NSW.

1 portrait in the collection

Sydney Ancher, c. 1962

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

Louise Forthun

Louise Forthun (b. 1959), artist, works primarily in painting and printmaking and has an aesthetic and conceptual focus on the architectural landscape of Australia's urban environments.

1 portrait in the collection

Frederick Cato, 1932

W B McInnes

Previous exhibition, 2010

Gift in memory of Frederick John Cato Kumm 2011. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

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.

Julia Matthews

Julia Matthews (1842-1876), actress and singer, came to Australia as a girl with her parents, and made her debut at Sydney's Royal Victoria Theatre in 1854, aged twelve.

1 portrait in the collection

Malcolm Fraser, 1990 (printed 2010)

Bill McAuley

More about In the flesh artists

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Jan Nelson

Jan Nelson was born in Melbourne. She graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in 1983 and has been exhibited her work in both solo and group exhibitions throughout Australia since that time including at the MCA, Sydney, National Gallery of Victoria, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane and the Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide.

Darling Portrait Prize 2024

Previous exhibition, 2024

The Darling Portrait Prize is a biennial national prize for Australian portrait painting honouring the legacy of Mr L Gordon Darling AC CMG.

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

Hans Eworth

Portrait, charcoal on paper

Untitled (portrait of Barbara Blackman), 1976

Charles Blackman OBE

Purchased 2009

Sydney Ancher

Sydney Ancher (1904-1980), architect, graduated from Sydney Tech College in 1930.

1 portrait in the collection

2015-17 Acquisition Fund

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.

Portrait of Ambrose Patterson, 1901-1902

Hugh Ramsay

Gift of the Estate of John Oswald Wicking 2003

Geoffrey Shedley

Geoffrey Shedley was a prominent South Australian architect, with a lifelong interest in drawing and sculpture.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir George Ferguson Bowen, c. 1873

Bardwell's Royal Studio

Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Jean-François de Galaup La Perouse

Photographic Portraiture in Australia

Jean-François de Galaup la Pérouse, Comte de la Pérouse (1741-1788), navigator, joined the French navy as a boy, rising to the rank of captain and serving with distinction and humanity in campaigns against the English in Hudson Bay in 1782.

4 portraits in the collection

Mirror With A Memory

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

Julia Swan

Harriet and Julia Swan were daughters of the successful Hobart merchant John Swan (1796–1858), who emigrated to Van Diemen’s Land in 1823 with his wife and first four daughters.

1 portrait in the collection

Harriet Swan

Harriet and Julia Swan were daughters of the successful Hobart merchant John Swan (1796–1858), who emigrated to Van Diemen’s Land in 1823 with his wife and first four daughters.

1 portrait in the collection

George Miller, 2002 (printed 2004)

Karin Catt

Previous exhibition, 2019

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005

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 Benedict "Ben" Chifley

Antoine Fauchery, Richard Daintree

Ben Chifley was Australia’s 16th Prime Minister. A railway engine driver in his home town of Bathurst, New South Wales, Ben Chifley became one of the most highly regarded of Australia’s Prime Ministers.

2 portraits in the collection

William Clark Haines, Premier of Victoria (Plate 12)

William Clark Haines, Premier of Victoria (Plate 12), 1857-1858

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on laid on cardboard

Purchased 2014

Francis Nixon

Archived media releases 2018

Francis Russell Nixon (1803-1879) photographer, artist and Anglican clergyman, arrived in Hobart in 1843 to take up the role of Bishop of Tasmania.

2 portraits in the collection

National Portrait Gallery Director's tenure ends in triumph

30 November 2018

National Portrait Gallery Director Angus Trumble is ending his five-year tenure with a flourish, after announcing that Gallery publication Dempsey’s People: A Folio of British Street Portraits 1824-1844 has been awarded the 2018 William MB Berger Prize for British Art History.

William Robertson jnr, c. 1852

Portrait, 1/6 plate daguerreotype, hand coloured with case

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

The soul surfer’s manifesto

Passion

Barrels, bliss and brotherhood

Self portrait (Full Length in front of Easel)

Self portrait (Full Length in front of Easel), 1901-1902

Hugh Ramsay

Gift of the Estate of John Oswald Wicking 2003

Robert Emerson Curtis, 1943

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

Jean Bellette, 1937

Adrian Lawlor

Magazine article by Malcolm Robertson, 2011

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Miss Robertson of Colac (Dolly), 1885-86

Brothers on farms

Malcolm Robertson tells the family history of one of Australia's earliest patrons of the arts, his Scottish born great great great grandfather, William Robertson.

Francis Russell Nixon, c. 1845-1855

an unknown artist after George Richmond

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

Purchased 2009

Sir Robert Garran, 1922

Bernard Hall

Gift of John Garran 2019. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

A Portrait (Kate Hattam), 1956

Clifton Pugh AO

Purchased 2006

Roslyn Oxley

Previous exhibition, 2018

Roslyn Oxley AM, gallerist and art dealer, was born Roslyn Walton, the daughter of John Walton, owner of the department store Waltons.

1 portrait in the collection

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2018

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.

Self portrait, 1988

Sidney Nolan

Gift of Hon RL Hunter KC 2006. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Rosemary Madigan, 1992

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

Willow Legge

Willow Legge (b. 1934) is a British artist who studied sculpture at Chelsea School of Art from 1951 to 1956 under Willi Soukop and Bernard Meadows.

1 portrait in the collection

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.

The Cutmear sisters, Jane and Lucy, c. 1842

A man of superior attainments

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2007

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

All there in black and white

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.

Missing Persons

Thomas Woolner in Australia

Desperately seeking Woolner medallions

Chandler Coventry, 1999

Anne Zahalka

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint and gold leaf on birch panel

Purchased 2021

Portrait of Helen Caldicott, 2021

Leeanne Crisp

Gift of Dr Helen Caldicott 2022

Announcing.... In their own words

24 November 2020

Archived media releases 2020

Inspiring Australians tell their own stories in a unique new gallery audio tour, developed in collaboration with the National Library of Australia.

Sir Francis Forbes KNt

Portrait, gilcée print on paper

Sir Francis Forbes (1784–1841) was the first chief justice of the New South Wales Supreme Court.

1 portrait in the collection

Smalltown Boy (Surfers Paradise), 2018

The Huxleys

Purchased 2021

Smalltown Boy (Perth), 2018

The Huxleys

Portrait, gilcée print on paper

Purchased 2021

Andrew Mezei

Andrew Mezei (b. 1963), artist, was born to Hungarian refugee parents in Melbourne and grew up in their leather-goods workshop, observing their adherence to a tradition of fine European craftsmanship.

1 portrait in the collection

Self portrait with gladioli, 1922

George Lambert

Gift of John Schaeffer AO 2003. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Florence Austral, c. 1930

Howard Barron

Gift of the University of Newcastle (Australia) 2007

James Iyuna, 1986

Purchased 2005

200 Years of Portraiture

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

Tim Storrier, 1995

Portrait, cast bronze on marble base

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

Reg Grundy, 1992 (cast 2003)

Nigel Boonham

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Dr John Chambers 2003

William - Aspendale, 1966 (printed 2015)

Lazar Krum

Gift of the artist 2015

Peter Brew-Bevan Portraits

In this exhibition Sydney based photographer Peter Brew-Bevan brings together an intimate collection of works that highlight his passion for the genre of portraiture over the last 10 years

Marian Drew

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint and gouache on 64 canvas boards (nos. 108101-108164)

Brisbane-based Marian Drew (b. 1960) is a photographic artist and Adjunct Associate Professor in Photography at Queensland College of Art, Griffith University.

1 portrait in the collection

Study of Louis Nowra, 2018

Imants Tillers

Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Bednall, Jillian Broadbent AC, John Kaldor AO and Naomi Milgrom AO 2018

Yvonne Audette, Vaucluse, Sydney, 1968 (printed 2000)

Thomas Woolnoth, William Mackenzie, Glasgow, Edinburgh, London & New York

La Perouse, 1830s

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

Brian Cadd, 1973

Rennie Ellis

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005

Wayne Lynch

Portrait, albumen photograph on cabinet card

Wayne Lynch (b. 1951), surfer and surfboard shaper, grew up in Lorne, Victoria, not far from Bells Beach.

2 portraits in the collection

The Payne family, 1888-1889

A Flegeltaub

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John McPhee 2018

Harold Holt, n.d.

Portrait, graphite on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Lily Kahan 2017
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Jacques Arago, c. 1830s

Nicolas Maurin, Alexandre Sixdeniers

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009

First study for portrait of Malcolm Fraser

First study for portrait of Malcolm Fraser, 1981

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

R. Ian Lloyd

Ian Lloyd was born in Canada and studied photography at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York and Brooks Institute in California.

5 portraits in the collection

Anna Volska

Self Portraits in Australia

Anna Volska (b. 1944), actor, came from Poland to Australia with her mother when she was seven.

1 portrait in the collection

To Look Within

Portrait, oil on canvas laid on masonite

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

Carl Cooper, 1945-1946

Arthur Boyd AC OBE

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Bequest of Alan Boxer 2014

William Beach

Bill Beach (1850-1935), sculler, came to New South Wales as a young boy with his English parents, who settled at Albion Park, NSW.

1 portrait in the collection

Julia Gillard, 2013

Peter Brew-Bevan

Gift of the artist 2013

Hon. Chris Watson

Portrait, pencil, brush and ink on paper

John Christian Watson, known as Chris Watson (1867-1941), Australia’s third Prime Minister, was born in Valparaiso, Chile, grew up in New Zealand and left school at 10 years of age to work on railway construction projects.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Zelman Cowen, 1982

Andrew Sibley

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2010
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Vlase Zanalis

Archived media releases 2021

Palassis (Vlase, Vlazio or Vlasio) Zanalis (1902–1973) arrived in Western Australia as a twelve-year-old, accompanied by an uncle, from the Greek island of Kastellorizo in 1914.

1 portrait in the collection

Australian Love Stories

4 January 2021

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

Bessie Lee, c. 1890

Yeoman & Co, Melbourne

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on cabinet card

Purchased 2017

George Fetting

George Fetting (b. 1964) is a Sydney-based photographer specialising in portrait, travel and editorial work.

8 portraits in the collection

Ralph Barton

Portrait, oil on canvas on board

Ralph Barton, American cartoonist and caricaturist, produced a body of work that epitomises American high life in the 1920s.

1 portrait in the collection

Mary Ware, c. 1854

Robert Dowling

Purchased with funds provided by Mary Isabel Murphy and Rosalind Blair Murphy 2014

William Beach, 1888

Portrait, tinted lithograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

Richard N (sitting on green chair backwards, 2 faces)

Richard N (sitting on green chair backwards, 2 faces), 2000-2010

Howard Tangye

Portrait, mixed media on cardboard

Gift of the artist 2023

The crime writer Shane Maloney, 2004

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2010
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Roslyn, 2016

Sally Ross

Portrait, cast bronze on granite base

Purchased 2017

Sir Edward Holden, 1945

Leslie Bowles

Bequest of John J Holden 2005

Grazia Gunn, 2014

Magazine article by Christine Clark, 2009

Purchased with funds provided by Wayne Williams 2015

My Favourite Australian

The Australian public was invited in 2008 to vote for their favourite Australian. After the votes were tallied an exhibition of the top-ten Popular Australians and the top-twenty unsung heroes was displayed at the National Portrait Gallery.

101 photographic portraits

Magazine article by Michelle Fracaro, 2004

Pat Corrigan's generous gift of 100 photographic portraits by Greg Weight.

Patrick Ryan

Support your Portrait Gallery

Patrick Ryan (d. 1990) and Tim Burstall set up Eltham Films in the early 1950s, when the local film industry was moribund.

1 portrait in the collection

Honour board

The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges and thanks all its supporters.

Chips Rafferty MBE

Portrait, white on blue Jasper Ware in oval shaped wood and gilt frame

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

Jasperware medallion of Captain James Cook

Jasperware medallion of Captain James Cook, 1779

Wedgwood and Bentley

Purchased with funds provided by Robert Oatley AO 2007

Mr George Watson

George John Watson (1829–1906), racing entrepreneur, was born at Ballydarton in Co.

1 portrait in the collection

Ross Watson

Portrait, oil and hand-stitching on canvas

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

2 portraits in the collection

James Morrison with flugelhorn, 1994

Kerrie Lester

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

George Barrington

George Barrington (1755-1804) was the best-known 'gentleman thief' of late eighteenth-century London.

3 portraits in the collection

Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, c. 1870

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

Harold Darling

Harold Darling (1885-1950) was chairman of BHP from 1922 to 1950. Born in Adelaide, he entered his father's milling and grain business when he was 18.

2 portraits in the collection

George Milpurrurru, 1986

Purchased 2005

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.

Robert W. Pohlman

Portrait, charcoal on paper

Robert Williams Pohlman (1811–1877), judge, arrived in Melbourne in 1840 and with his brother acquired a sheep station, Darlington (later Glenhope), near Kyneton.

1 portrait in the collection

Study for portrait of Les Murray, 1995

David Naseby

Gift of the artist 2001

Guy Pearce, 2000 (printed 2004)

Karin Catt

Photographic Portraits from 19th Century Australia

Purchased 2005

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.

Lord Florey, c. 1966

Purchased 1998

William St Leonards Robertson, c. 1865

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

Inside Heide’s lives

It's Complicated

Happiness to heartache

Sir James Gobbo, 1983

Paul Fitzgerald AM

Infamy, the macabre & the portrait

Gift of Mercy Health and Aged Care 2006

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.

Robert Lowe, Viscount Sherbrooke

Previous exhibition, 2023

Robert Lowe, Viscount Sherbrooke (1811-1892), politician, studied and tutored in law at Oxford before coming to Australia in 1842.

4 portraits 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.

Sidney Nolan

Sir Sidney Nolan AC OM CBE (1917–1992) was one of the most original and inventive Australian artists of the postwar decades, and one of few Australian artists to achieve an international reputation in the twentieth century.

7 portraits in the collection

Bon Scott & Angus Young, Atlanta, Georgia

No shirt, no service

Bon Scott and Angus Young photographed by Rennie Ellis are part of a display celebrating summer and images of the shirtless male.

Desiderius Orban

Desiderius Orban OBE (1884-1986) taught himself to paint while a student at the university of Budapest.

1 portrait in the collection

Lee Kernaghan OAM

Lee Kernaghan (b.1964) is a country music singer and songwriter. Born in Victoria, son of travelling country music artist and impresario Ray Kernaghan, Lee Kernaghan grew up in the Riverina area of New South Wales.

1 portrait in the collection

Nigel Butterley, Composer, 1977 (printed 2021)

Purchased with funds provided by Tim Bednall 2021

Essington Lewis CH

Essington Lewis CH (1881-1961) was chairman of BHP from 1950 to 1952, having been the company's chief general manager from 1938 to 1950.

1 portrait in the collection

Professor Peter Doherty, 2001

Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2002

Hugh Kingsley Ward

Hugh Kingsley Ward MC (1887-1972), bacteriologist, was educated at Sydney Grammar and the University of Sydney before being awarded the Rhodes Scholarship in 1911 and proceeding to Oxford.

1 portrait in the collection

Arthur Boyd, 1962

Axel Poignant

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003

Bruny d'Entrecasteaux, 1837

Antoine Maurin

Previous exhibition, 2003

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Max Dupain

The Vintage Years

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

Giving a dam

True south #1

The vision of Gordon and Marilyn Darling

Ensconced and meditative in crisp Tasmania, Joanna Gilmour pays tribute to passionate green advocate and photographer Olegas Truchanas.

Uncommon Australians

Previous exhibition, 2015

This exhibition showcases portraits acquired through the generosity of the National Portrait Gallery’s Founding Patrons, L Gordon Darling AC CMG and Marilyn Darling AC.

Wylie, 1840-1841

Robert Neill

Portrait, steel engraving with later hand-colouring on paper

Purchased 2018

Gwyn Hannsen Pigott

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott AM (1935–2013) was a self-described potter, whose international reputation was built on her exquisite still-life assemblages of refined, spare vessels in subtle colours and shapes.

1 portrait in the collection

Lady [Hannah] Lloyd Jones OBE

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2016

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

Showing character

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

Temporary road closures

Sunday 13 April 2025

Location

Road closures for the Canberra Marathon will block vehicle access to our building and carpark on Sunday 13 April until 3:00pm.

Ernest Hutcheson

Ernest Hutcheson (1871-1951), pianist, composer and music teacher, started performing at the age of five.

1 portrait in the collection

Tim Fairfax AC, 2018

Russell Shakespeare

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2008

Commissioned with funds provided by The Calvert-Jones Foundation 2018

I'm not there

Christopher Chapman looks at some contemporary portraits that explore the construction of identity.

Noni Hazlehurst, 1977 (printed 2011)

Johann Paul Georg Fischer

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Portrait of Augustus Leopold Küper, 1823

Portrait, watercolour over pencil on artist board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Who's that?

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2009

Michael Desmond discusses the iconic picture of two Rugby League players which became known as 'The Gladiators'.

Beautiful bones

Sarah Engledow reflects on the shared life and writing of Dorothy Porter and Andrea Goldsmith.

Kenneth W. Catchpole OAM

Ken Catchpole OAM (1939-2017), former rugby union international, excelled at various sports in his school years in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, but began to show real prowess in rugby as a student at Scot’s College in the 1950s.

1 portrait in the collection

Lan Wang, Xini, Jiawei Shen and Billy, 2010

Purchased 2012

George Gregan, 1999 (printed 2001)

Peter Brew-Bevan

Purchased 2001

The great South Sea caterpillar transformed into a Bath Butterfly (Sir Joseph Banks)

The Bath Butterfly

The caricaturist and engraver James Gillray's biting satires about Sir Joseph Banks.

Edward William Knox Jnr

Edward William Knox (1847-1933), industrialist, was the second of four surviving sons of Sir Edward Knox, founder of the Colonial Sugar Refining Co, and his wife Martha Rutledge (sister of merchant, banker and settler William Rutlege).

3 portraits in the collection

Barton and Watson, 1902

G. H. Dancey

Purchased 2012

Leigh Bowery in Fur Coat, c. 1983 (printed 2005)

David Gwinnutt

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, selenium toned on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005

Kenneth Gillespie, 2005

Dean Beletich

Purchased 2015

Joan Kirner

Joan Kirner AC (1938-2015) was the first female premier of Victoria. Daughter of a fitter and turner and a homemaker, she attended the selective University High School, graduating from the University of Melbourne to teach in state schools.

1 portrait in the collection

Geoffrey Legge and Frank Watters, 2008

Gary Grealy

Previous exhibition, 2013

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2010

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.

Sir William Deane AC KBE KC

Sir William Deane AC KBE KC (b. 1931), High Court judge, was governor-general of Australia from early 1996 to mid-2001.

1 portrait in the collection

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

Dan Sultan

Dan Sultan (b. 1983), Arrernte/Gurindji singer/songwriter, grew up in Melbourne.

1 portrait in the collection

Harry Seidler AC OBE

Harry Seidler AC OBE (1923–2006), architect and designer, was born in Vienna and completed his early architectural studies in England and Canada.

4 portraits in the collection

Elizabeth Walford

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

1 portrait in the collection

Sarah Simpson, c. 1866

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2014

Lewis Morley

Lewis Morley (1925–2013) established his reputation as one of the key British photographers of the 1960s and is known for his iconic image of a nude Christine Keeler straddling an Arne Jacobsen chair.

50 portraits in the collection

William Robinson AO

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2019

William Robinson AO (b. 1936) is one of Australia's most distinguished and influential contemporary painters, known for his distinctive and prolific output as landscape painter in particular.

3 portraits in the collection

Study for Aunty Mary King, 2010 by Mathew Lynn

The animating signature

Joanna Gilmore delights in the affecting drawings of Mathew Lynn.

Kerry Stokes AC

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2006

Kerry Stokes AC (b. 1940), businessman and philanthropist, was born John Patrick Alford in Melbourne.

1 portrait in the collection

Giving and getting

The exhibition Portraits for Posterity celebrates gifts to the Gallery, of purchases made with donated funds, and testifies to the generosity and community spirit of Australians.

Richard Morecroft & Alison Mackay, 2016 by Gary Grealy

Gary Grealy wins National Photographic Portrait Prize 2017

31 March 2017

Archived media releases 2017

After months of anticipation, the winner for the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2017 has been announced with renowned Sydney portrait photographer Gary Grealy taking out the award. George Fetting, guest judge for the 2017 Prize, was entranced with the evocative nature of the winning portrait Richard Morecroft and Alison Mackay.

Ken Rosewall AM MBE

Ken Rosewall AM MBE (b. 1934), champion tennis player, won the Australian Open in 1953 and again nineteen years later in 1972 (he remains both the youngest, and oldest, person to win the title).

1 portrait in the collection

The Writer: Peter Goldsworthy, 2018

by Deidre But-Husaim

Portrait, single channel moving image, colour, sound, 2 minutes, 47 seconds

Commissioned with funds provided by Jillian Broadbent AO and Dr Helen Nugent AO 2018.

Sir William Deane 2008, 2008

Merilyn Fairskye

Purchased 2011

Sir Zelman Cowen, 2000

Wes Walters

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Marc Besen AO and Dr Joseph Brown AO OBE 2000

Portrait of Professors Margaret Gardner and Glyn Davis

Glyn Davis AC

Professor Glyn Davis AC is Secretary to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

1 portrait in the collection

Anna F. Walker

Anna Frances Walker (1830–1913), botanical artist and collector, was one of the thirteen children of Thomas Walker, a high-ranking colonial public servant, and his wife Anna Elizabeth, the daughter of merchant and landowner John Blaxland.

1 portrait in the collection

Crikey!

Magazine article by Lauren Dalla, 2003

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

An Intimate Portrait of an Australian Artist in 1930

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

Feel the music

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2010

Dr Christopher Chapman discusses the portrait of Australian composer Paul Grabowsky by photographer Martin Philbey.

TERROIR

TERROIR directors Gerard Reinmuth, Scott Balmforth and Richard Blythe believe that the practice of architecture is the production of knowledge.

Portrait 65

Autumn/Winter 2021

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.

2012-13 Acquisition Fund

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

Leigh Bowery

Leigh Bowery (1961-1994), London-based designer and nightclub performer, was born in the Melbourne suburb of Sunshine, and attended school in Melbourne before briefly studying fashion design at RMIT.

2 portraits in the collection

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.

Jack Thompson AM

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

3 portraits in the collection

Thomas Joseph Carr

Thomas Joseph Carr (1839–1917) was the second Catholic archbishop of Melbourne, the successor to James Alipius Goold.

2 portraits in the collection

Eva Cox AO

Eva Cox AO (b. 1938), academic, feminist and social activist, emigrated to Australia in 1948 after her Jewish family had reunited following separation during the war.

1 portrait in the collection

Parking

Plan your visit

Parking is available in our underground car park every day of the week. Fees apply.

Alan Bond

Born in London, Alan Bond (1938–2015) emigrated with his family in 1950 and began his working life as a signwriter.

2 portraits in the collection

Marilyn, Marlene and Kelvin Kong, c. 2000

Penny Tweedie

Gift of the artist 2004

George Judah Cohen, 1925

George Lambert

Gift of the National Australia Bank 2002

Michael Peck

Michael Peck, artist and academic, was born in Melbourne in 1977; he was awarded a Bachelor of Fine Art (honours) (Painting) from Monash University and has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions since 1998.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait of Frank Lowy AC, 2014

Paul Newton

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2016
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Maurice Felton

Maurice Appleby Felton (1803-1842) arrived in Sydney with his wife and four children in late 1839 as surgeon to the immigrant ship the Royal Admiral.

3 portraits in the collection

James Robert M. Robertson

James Robert M. Robertson (1844-1932), mining engineer and coal magnate, was the son of a Scottish surgeon and colliery owner, and qualified in medicine himself before opting for a career in mining.

1 portrait in the collection

Brian Cadd

Brian Cadd (b. 1946), singer/songwriter, had been a member of 1960s Melbourne band The Groop before forming Axiom, the band for which he wrote the hits 'Arkansas Grass' and 'A Little Ray of Sunshine' at the dawn of the 1970s.

1 portrait in the collection

Missy Higgins

Melissa 'Missy' Higgins (b. 1983), singer/songwriter, began singing in her early teens, falsifying her age to get into clubs to play with her brother's jazz combo.

1 portrait in the collection

Florence Austral

Florence Austral (1892–1968), operatic soprano, achieved international renown during the 1920s.

1 portrait in the collection

Geoff Cousins, 2017

David Naseby

Gift of Geoff Cousins AM 2007

Reinis Zusters

Reinis Zusters studied art briefly in Germany before arriving in Australia as a Latvian refugee in 1950.

2 portraits in the collection

Joan Kirner, c. 1990

Rennie Ellis

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2006

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

Sir Joseph Banks KCB

Joseph Banks KCB (1743-1820), naturalist, grew up on his father's Lincolnshire estate, Revesby, but his lifelong interest in botany developed at Eton and Oxford.

13 portraits in the collection

Gloria Petyarre, 2005

R. Ian Lloyd

Previous exhibition, 2022

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

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.

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

Ivy Shore

Ivy Shore (1915–1999), painter, was born in Melbourne, daughter of a South Australian suffragette, Elka, and engineer John Williams.

2 portraits in the collection

Donors

$10,000 - $49,999

Portrait, oil on canvas laid on composition board

Mary Tindale, 1841

Maurice Felton

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003

Mr Robert Oatley AO

Robert Oatley AO (1928–2016), businessman, was one of Australia’s most successful wine industry figures.

Marc Besen AC and Eva Besen AO
Featuring a favourite painting, Fred Williams ‘Wild Dog Creek’ 1977

Marc Besen AC and Eva Besen AO
Featuring a favourite painting, Fred Williams ‘Wild Dog Creek’ 1977, 2020

Raelene Sharp

Commissioned with funds provided by Nigel Satterley AM and Denise Satterley 2020

Rev. William Singleton

The Reverend William Singleton (c. 1804-1875), Anglican clergyman, graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 1826 and was ordained in the city’s Christ Church Cathedral in 1841.

1 portrait in the collection

Peter Booth

Peter Booth (b. 1940) grew up in the English steel mill town of Sheffield, bike-riding on the nearby moors.

1 portrait in the collection

Fred Hilmer, 2018

by Evert Ploeg

Commissioned with funds provided by Dr Helen Nugent AO 2018

Tim Fairfax AC

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2008

Tim Fairfax AC (b.1946), company director, grazier and philanthropist, is a founding benefactor of the National Portrait Gallery and a former chair of its board of directors.

1 portrait in the collection

Tracks in the sand

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

Dr Lowitja O'Donoghue AC CBE DSG

Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue AC CBE DSG (1932–2024), a Yankunytjatjara woman, dedicated her life’s work to advancing the rights and wellbeing of Australia’s First Peoples.

2 portraits in the collection

Pixie O'Harris

Pixie O’Harris MBE (1903–1991), author and illustrator, was born Rona Olive Harris in Cardiff, one of the eight children of painter, George Frederick Harris.

1 portrait in the collection

Johnny Day

‘The Australian Wonder’, Johnny Day (1856–1885), was an undefeated world-champion juvenile walker.

1 portrait in the collection

Barbara Tribe

Barbara Tribe (1913–2000), artist, is one of Australia's most significant sculptors.

4 portraits in the collection

William Strutt

Portrait, pastel on paper

William Strutt arrived in Melbourne in 1850 having undertaken his training in art in Paris in the late 1830s.

1 portrait in the collection

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

Jean Shepeard

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2002

Julia Gillard AC

Julia Gillard AC (b. 1961) was the 27th Prime Minister of Australia from June 2010 to June 2013.

1 portrait in the collection

Lady Deborah Vernon Hackett

Australia's America's Cup challengers

Lady Deborah Vernon Hackett (1887–1965) was a mining company director and philanthropist.

1 portrait in the collection

A magnificent rivalry

Alexander (Jock) Sturrock and Alan Bond

In the mirror: self portrait with Joy Hester, 1939

Albert Tucker

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

Portrait of Robert Klippel, 1980

Yvonne Audette AM

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

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 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

Master Johnny Day, Australian Champion Pedestrian, c. 1866

Portrait, albumen photograph carte de visite

Purchased 2014

Richard Roxburgh

Richard Roxburgh (b. 1962), actor, completed an economics degree at the Australian National University before gaining a place at NIDA on his second attempt.

2 portraits in the collection

George Pell AC

George Pell AC (1941–2023), former Roman Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne and Sydney, was born and educated in Ballarat, Victoria.

1 portrait in the collection

Sidney Nolan, Western Australia, 1962 (printed 2000)

David Dridan OAM

David Dridan (b. 1932), artist, studied at the South Australian School of Art and later at East Sydney Technical College.

1 portrait in the collection

Ron Robertson-Swann OAM

Ron Robertson-Swann (b. 1941), sculptor, teacher and painter, studied at the National Art School (NAS) under Lyndon Dadswell in the late 1950s.

1 portrait in the collection

Sydney Cove medallion, 1789 by Josiah Wedgwood

The medallion

In recent years I have become fascinated by the so-called Sydney Cove Medallion (1789), a work of art that bridges the 10,000-mile gap between the newly established penal settlement at Port Jackson and the beating heart of Enlightenment England.

Rupert Bunny

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

Wylie

Wylie (c. 1824–unknown) is thought to have been born near King George’s Sound in south-west Western Australia, which would make him a Noongar man.

1 portrait in the collection

Ben Quilty

Carrington Photo Galleries

Ben Quilty (b. 1973), painter, gained bachelor’s degrees in painting and visual communication at Sydney College of the Arts and the University of Western Sydney.

1 portrait 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

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2005

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John McPhee 2018

The Good Doctor

Dr Sarah Engledow describes the achievements of internationally renowned burns and trauma surgeon Professor Fiona Wood.

The Australian Cricket Team 1882

The Australian cricket team of 1882 was the third side to tour England and the team whose defeat of England at The Oval in August of that year initiated the 'The Ashes' Test series.

1 portrait in the collection

William Clark Haines

William Clark Haines (1810-1866), first premier of Victoria, was educated at Charterhouse and Caius College Cambridge and practised as a surgeon in England before sailing to Victoria in 1842.

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

George Hurrell

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2003

George Hurrell, born in Kentucky, began his working life studying painting at the Art Institute of Chicago.

1 portrait in the collection

Australians in Hollywood

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

Supporters

$5,000 - $9,999

Michael Leunig, 2004

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005

Sir James Dowling

Sir James Dowling (1787-1844), judge, worked as a parliamentary reporter before he was called to the Bar in London in May 1815.

1 portrait in the collection

Gordon Powell AM KCSJ

Gordon Powell AM KCSJ (1911-2005) Presbyterian minister, broadcaster and writer, is regarded as one of the most influential Australian Presbyterians.

1 portrait in the collection

Now & then

Penelope Seidler

Magazine article, 2024

Photographed 60 years apart, these portraits trace the lives and love story of Penelope Seidler AM and Harry Seidler OBE.

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.

Cardinal George Pell, 2007 (printed 2012)

David Roberts

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Rick Amor

Rick Amor (b. 1948) is a Victorian-based painter, printmaker and sculptor.

27 portraits in the collection

Julian Meagher

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

Portrait of David Dridan, 1992

Brian Dunlop

Magazine article by Eileen Adams, 2006

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of David Dridan OAM 2017

Drawing power

The National Portrait Gallery joins the Big Draw, a program dedicated to promoting drawing as a tool for thought, creativity, social and cultural engagement.

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

Oz Elsewhere

Get me outta here

Archived media releases 2017

While the blues-inspired hard guitar riffs of Australian pub rock were shaping tastes, a number of artists were developing music primed for success on the international stage.

Calling all family history buffs

3 July 2017

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

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

Dame Annie Florence Cardell-Oliver DBE

Dame Annie Florence Cardell-Oliver DBE (1876–1965), politician, grew up in Melbourne before marrying David Sykes Boyd, a wool buyer, and returning with him to England.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait of Sir Joseph Banks, c. 1814

Thomas Phillips

Purchased 2011

Rachel Roxburgh

Archived media releases 2018

Rachel Roxburgh (1915–1991), artist, conservationist and architectural historian, grew up in Sydney's eastern suburbs and studied art at East Sydney Technical College and the Adelaide Perry Art School in the 1930s.

1 portrait in the collection

The Honourable Bob Hawke savouring a strawberry milkshake, 2017 by Harold David

Harold David Takes out the People’s Choice Award for this year’s National Photographic Portrait Prize

8 June 2018

The votes are in and the National Portrait Gallery is pleased to announce The Honourable Bob Hawke savouring a strawberry milkshake by Harold David is the people’s choice for the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2018.

Eric Bana, 2006 (printed 2012)

Andrew Maccoll

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2015

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2012

Alternative virtue

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

Hon. Gough Whitlam AC QC

Portrait, oil on canvas laid on masonite

Edward Gough Whitlam AC QC (1916-2014) was prime minister from the end of 1972 to the end of 1975.

12 portraits in the collection

The Hon E.G. Whitlam AC QC, 1980

Graeme Inson

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2002

Noni Hazlehurst AM

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2018

Actor, presenter and broadcaster Noni Hazlehurst AM (b. 1953) studied drama at Flinders University in South Australia, and after graduating gained roles in the television cop shows Division 4, Homicide and Matlock Police.

2 portraits in the collection

A guy from Paris

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

David Strachan

David Strachan (1919–1970), painter and printmaker, was educated at Geelong Grammar School and then studied art at the Slade School in London.

2 portraits in the collection

Anne Zahalka

Photo media artist Anne Zahalka was born in Sydney in 1957, following her parent’s migration to post-war Australia.

19 portraits in the collection

Portrait 50 hits the shelves

1 September 2015

With contributions from Julia Gillard, Fiona Gruber, and Dr Karl James, the National Portrait Gallery’s 50th edition of Portrait has something for everyone.

Lustre, held by a Groom, ca. 1762 by George Stubbs

Stubbs and the horse

One of the chief aims of George Stubbs, 1724–1806, the late Judy Egerton’s great 1984–85 exhibition at the Tate Gallery was to provide an eloquent rebuttal to Josiah Wedgwood’s famous remark of 1780: “Noboby suspects Mr Stubs [sic] of painting anything but horses & lions, or dogs & tigers.”

Gallery unveils Portrait of Mark Ella

12 May 2016

Last night in Sydney, the National Portrait Gallery unveiled a newly commissioned portrait of Australian sporting legend Mark Ella AM.

Dr Helen Caldicott

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

Angus Trumble Director, National Portrait Gallery

Cherish the brethren

Portrait, albumen silver carte de visite

Fortunately, perhaps, there is no instruction manual for newly appointed art museum directors.

Right Rev Dr Lawrence Bonaventure Sheil OSF

Right Rev Dr Lawrence Bonaventure Sheil OSF, c. 1872

Bardwell's Royal Studio

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

hey, Betty (Portrait of Betty Churcher), 1990

Davida Allen

Portrait, oil on plywood

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

Eva Besen AO

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2007

Eva Besen AO (1928–2021), philanthropist and arts benefactor, founded the Besen Family Foundation with her husband Marc Besen AC.

1 portrait in the collection

The highest honour

Bringing eminent scientist Frank Fenner and artist Jude Rae together for the National Portrait Gallery commission was like matchmaking.

The family, c. 1955

Charles Blackman OBE

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

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.

Robert Oatley AO

1928–2016

Magazine article by Stella Ramage, 2016

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

Missionary positions

Stella Ramage on Father McHardy’s Bougainville portraiture.

Marc Besen AC

Marcus (Marc) Besen AC (1923–2023), philanthropist and arts benefactor, founded the Besen Family Foundation with his wife Eva Besen AO.

1 portrait in the collection

Sam Meers AO, John Barrington AM, Elizabeth Dibbs, Tom Mosby, Hayley Baillie, Hugo Michell, Valerie Tam

The Board

Governance & Board

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

Wicked but Virtuous

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

Neale Daniher AO

Neale Daniher AO, Australian Football player, coach and general manager, was born in West Wyalong, New South Wales in 1961.

1 portrait in the collection

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

Emile Sherman

Emile Sherman (b. 1972), film producer, graduated from the University of New South Wales before beginning his career with a documentary about his great-great-uncle Chatzkel, a Lithuanian Jew who lived through both world wars and the Bolshevik revolution.

3 portraits in the collection

Inditchenous beestes of New Olland

Magazine article by Barrie Cassidy, 2019

A remarkable undated drawing by Edward Lear (1812–88) blends natural history and whimsy.

The intellectual larrikin

Barrie Cassidy pays textured tribute to the inimitable Bob Hawke.

Nicholas Harding

Nicholas Harding (1956–2022) was one of Australia's most highly regarded artists, known for his portraits and drawings, and his light-filled, vigorously painted images of the bush and the coast.

5 portraits in the collection

Jill Ker Conway, 1987

Sarah Belchetz-Swenson

Archived media releases 2017

Gift of an anonymous donor 2001

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.

Australian Tapestry Workshop

Magazine article by Barry York, 2018

The Australian Tapestry Workshop (formerly the Victorian Tapestry Workshop) was established in 1976, following two years of planning and research on the part of its founding patrons, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch and Lady Joyce Delacombe.

2 portraits in the collection

Star signs

Barry York charts the course from childhood request to autographed celebrity portrait anthology.

David Unaipon

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2009

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

In the round

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

Frank Lowy AC

Sir Frank Lowy AC (b. 1930) businessman, property developer and philanthropist, founded the Westfield group of shopping centres.

2 portraits in the collection

Younger Australians more engaged with arts and history

11 April 2016

The second annual brand-awareness snapshot of the National Portrait Gallery is again positive, with indicators moving in the right direction – for the Gallery and for Australia’s cultural engagement.

Grateful admiration and brotherly love

In the earliest stages of the Great War, the Royal Pavilion in Brighton was turned into a military hospital, and arrangements made there to accommodate the different dietary and other requirements of Hindu, Sikh and Muslim patients.

Cooey! An Australian Song

Magazine article by India Bednall, 2015

"Coo-ey, Coo-ey, Coo-ey, Coo-ey—Love has caught the strain, Coo-ey, Coo-ey, Coo-ey, Coo-ey—it whispers back again." The “Australian lady” who composed these fruity lyrics was none other than Desda— Jane Davies, sometime Messiter (née Price) of Leddicott, Lavender Bay.

Dan the man

Martin Philbey’s portrait of Dan Sultan.

James Macpherson Grant, c. 1870s

Paterson Brothers

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2008

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John McPhee 2018

Pretty in peach

It's remarkable that the inner Melbourne suburb of Richmond has produced two of Australia's most successful opera singers. Three decades apart, but within a short distance of each other, both Helen Porter Mitchell and Florence Wilson were born.

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

Elizabeth Roberts

Elizabeth Roberts (1812–1833) was the daughter of Warwickshire-born William Roberts (1754–1819) and his wife, Jane (née Longhurst, c.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Edgar Barton ‘EB’ Coles

Sir Edgar Barton ‘EB’ Coles (1899-1981) was the longest-serving chief executive of the Coles retail group.

2 portraits in the collection

George Selth Coppin, c. 1863

Portrait, albumen silver carte de visite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Robert O'Hara Burke, Leader of the Victorian Expedition

Robert O'Hara Burke, Leader of the Victorian Expedition, 1860-1861

Henry Samuel Sadd, Fergusson & Mitchell, Melbourne after Thomas Adams Hill

Purchased with funds provided by Ross A Field 2007

William Walford

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, sepia toned on paper

1 portrait in the collection

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

William Barak at work on the drawing ‘Ceremony’ at Coranderrk, 1902

Johannes Heyer

Purchased with the assistance of funds provided by the Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Society 2000

Ken Catchpole, 2014

Gary Grealy

Commissioned with funds provided by the Patrick Corrigan Portrait Commission Series 2014

Clara Crosbie, c. 1885

Arthur William Burman

Gift of John McPhee 2018

Adrian Rawlins

Garry Shead, Adrienne Levenson

Adrian Rawlins (1939-2001), poet, performer and promoter, grew up in a Jewish household in Caulfield and St Kilda.

1 portrait in the collection

Soffritto di Lucio, 2009

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

Tim Burstall

Tim Burstall (1927-2004) set up Eltham Films in the early 1950s, when the local film industry was moribund.

2 portraits in the collection

Portrait Donors

Listed by year

Edward Hammond Hargraves

Edward Hammond Hargraves (1816–1891), adventurer and speculator, claimed credit for the discovery of payable goldfields in New South Wales.

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

Richard Read Jnr

Richard Read junior arrived in Sydney from his native London in November 1819.

2 portraits in the collection

Untitled #21/09 (after Ricci, 1700; featuring Matthew Mitcham)

Untitled #21/09 (after Ricci, 1700; featuring Matthew Mitcham), 2009

Ross Watson

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

Jemima Bellette

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2016

George Billett (also Bellett, Bellette and Billet, 1812–1885) was a farmer and landowner, an early settler of Sorell in Tasmania, and the son of two ex-convicts.

1 portrait in the collection

Apollo's breath

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

Chandler P. Coventry AM

Chandler Phillip Coventry AM (1924–1999), grazier, gallerist, art collector and arts patron, was born in Armidale, New South Wales to an established New England grazing family.

1 portrait in the collection

Madame Marie Carandini

Magazine article by Jessica Bolton, 2017

Marie Carandini (née Burgess, 1826–1894), aka 'Madame Carandini', was seven years old when her family arrived in Van Diemen's Land as assisted immigrants.

1 portrait in the collection

Mia Wasikowska as Robyn Davidson at Hamelin Pool, 2013 by Matt Nettheim

Hump days

Jessica Bolton navigates the parallel tracks documenting Robyn Davidson’s astonishing journey.

Angus Trumble

12 October 2022

Archived media releases 2022

Members of the Board, Foundation and staff of the National Portrait Gallery are deeply saddened by the sudden passing of Angus Trumble.

Super League

Magazine article by David Sequeira, 2004

The portrait of Ian Roberts by Ross Watson.

William Robertson and Martha Mary Robertson

William Robertson and Martha Mary Robertson, 1863

William Edward Kilburn

Portrait, carte de visite photograph on card

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

Thomas Woolner

Archived media releases 2020

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

The People’s Choice Awards

16 June 2020

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

A bond of friendship

Magazine article by Yvonne Audette AM, 2005

Australia's major abstract painter Yvonne Audette discusses her portrait of sculptor Robert Kippel.

Frank Lowy, 1998 (printed 2011)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Henry Baynton Somer Gullett AM MC

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2016

Henry Baynton Somer ‘Jo’ Gullett AM MC (1914-1999), soldier, politician, ambassador, farmer and author, was the son of Sir Henry Gullett, who was one of the Australian official historians of the First World War.

1 portrait in the collection

Australia’s great internationalists

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

Bloodlines

Magazine article by Michelle Fracaro, 2004

Michelle Fracaro describes Lionel Lindsay's woodcut The Jester (self-portrait).

The Fairfax Gift

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

Arcadia: Sound of the sea

Exhibition introduction

One night in the spring of 1970 in an old house in Whale Beach, north of Sydney, John Witzig, Albe Falzon and David Elfick put together the first issue of Tracks, playing Neil Young’s album Harvest over and over again as they pasted up galleys of type.

William Bligh

The life of William Bligh offers up a handful of the most remarkable episodes in the history of Britain’s eighteenth and early nineteenth-century maritime empire.

Arnold Shore

Arnold Shore, a lifelong inhabitant of Melbourne, was apprenticed to a stained glass and leadlight company called Brooks, Robinson soon after leaving school at the age of twelve.

2 portraits 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

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2002

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

A Meeting of Great Minds

The story behind Rick Amor's portrait of Professor Peter Doherty.

What price self?

Magazine article by Jane Raffan, 2013

Jane Raffan investigates auction sales of self portraits nationally and internationally.

Untitled, Conductors, Tramways series, 1990 © Matt Nettheim

Back track

Penelope Grist finds photographer Matt Nettheim re-visiting a formative and fulfilling career tram stop.

George Bellette

Magazine article by Dr Grace Blakeley-Carroll, 2010

George Billett (also Bellett, Bellette and Billet, 1812–1885) was a farmer and landowner, an early settler of Sorell in Tasmania, and the son of two ex-convicts.

1 portrait in the collection

Celebrity cutpurse

Grace Carroll discusses the portrait of the late-eighteenth century gentleman pickpocket George Barrington.

Out of the shadows

Magazine article by Catherine McDonough, 2006

Joanna Gilmour profiles the life and times of the shutter sisters May and Mina Moore.

Start Your Engines...

The bronze sculpture by Julie Edgar reflects through both the material and representation the determined and straight-forward nature of Brabham.

The Story So Far...

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2002

A reflection on the National Portrait Gallery's first four years.

Friends and Acquaintances

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2005

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

All dressed up

Magazine article by Jane Raffan, 2013

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

Aussies all

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2006

The exhibition Aussies all features the ecclectic portrait photography of Rennie Ellis which captures Australian life during the 70s and 80s.

Glamour vs grunge

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2010

Christopher Chapman examines the battle of glamour vs. grunge which played out in the fashion and advertising of the 1990s.

The Dissecting Room

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2015

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

Martha Kermode, c. 1840

Henry Mundy

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

Henry Mundy

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

Marianne Egan

Magazine article by Lee Tulloch, 2011

Mary Anne Egan (also Marianne or Marian, née Cheers, 1818–1857), was born in Sydney, the daughter of ex-convicts.

1 portrait in the collection

Self Portrait, Stuart Campbell by Stuart Campbell

The essence of you

Lee Tulloch remembers her great friend NIDA-trained actor turned photographer Stuart Campbell.

The Rays, 1970
Raindance Corporation, Frank Gillette, Michael Shamberg, Paul Ryan

Post digital

Magazine article by Tegan Mcauley, 2015

Tegan McAuley looks at the evolution of video portraiture.

The news from Washington

Magazine article by Lauretta Morton, 2006

Australia's former Cultural Attache to the USA, Ron Ramsey, describes the mood at the opening week of the revitalised American National Portrait Gallery.

How to be a boy

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2011

Christopher Chapman profiles Chris Lilley, actor and creator of Angry Boys.

Tim Fairfax, 2018

by Russell Shakespeare

Commissioned with funds provided by The Calvert-Jones Foundation 2018

Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza and David R. L. Litchfield at Villa Favorita, Lugano, Switzerland, 1989 © Nicola Graydo

The Thyssen Art Macabre

Magazine article by Inga Walton, 2021

Books seldom make me angry but this one did. At first, I was powerfully struck by the uncanny parallels that existed between the Mellons of Pittsburgh and the Thyssens of the Ruhr through the same period, essentially the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

Self-portrait in white jacket , 1901-02 Hugh Ramsay

Wunderkind lost

Inga Walton on the brief but brilliant life of Hugh Ramsay.

Portrait of Professors Margaret Gardner and Glyn Davis, 2017

Commissioned with funds provided by Jim and Barbara Higgins, Sir Roderick Carnegie AC, Rupert Myer AO and Annabel Myer, Louise and Martyn Myer Foundation, Peter and Ruth McMullin, Diana Carlton, Professor Derek Denton AC, Harold Mitchell AC, Peter Jopling AM KC, Andrew and Liz Mackenzie, Patricia Patten, Tamie Fraser AO, Bruce Parncutt and Robin Campbell, Lauraine Diggins, Steven Skala AO and Lousje Skala 2017

History

About us

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

Indexing, the art of

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

Talking heads

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2022

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

Take thy face hence

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

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.

To the end of the earth

Magazine article by Tedi Bills, 2016

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

Chairman Sid Myer AM, Deputy Chair Hayley Baillie, Tim Bednall, Jillian Broadbent AC, Patrick Corrigan AM, Marilyn Darling AC, Tim Fairfax AC, Sam Meers AO, John Liangis, Dr Helen Nugent AC, Nigel Satterley AM and Susan Armitage

Foundation Members

Foundation

Chairman Sid Myer AM, Hayley Baillie, Tim Bednall, Jillian Broadbent AC, Patrick Corrigan AM, Marilyn Darling AC, Tim Fairfax AC, Sam Meers AO, John Liangis, Dr Helen Nugent AC and Nigel Satterley AM.

It's a Mora!

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

Catholic clergymen from the Diocese of Adelaide

Catholic clergymen from the Diocese of Adelaide, c. 1862

Stephen Edward Nixon

Purchased 2018

Gail Kelly, 2018

by Paul Newton

Commissioned with funds provided by Westpac Group and Optus 2018

Andrew Gaze, 2018

by George Fetting

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2022

Commissioned with funds provided by Trent Birkett 2018

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.

In a good paddock

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2004

Celebrating a new painted portrait of Joseph Banks, Sarah Engledow spins a yarn of the naturalist, the first kangaroo in France and Don, a Spanish ram.

Velasquez Touch

Former NPG Director, Andrew Sayers, explores the creative collaborations between four Australian artists living in Paris during the first years of the twentieth century.

What the tree saw: David Foster, 2018

by Jacqui Stockdale

Archived media releases 2021

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

Harriet Schwarzrock: spaces between movement and stillness

10 February 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.

Woman with Fair Hair and Pink Cardigan, 1949 by John Perceval.

The family scene

Magazine article, 2016

Traudi Allen discovers sensitivity, humour and fine draughtsmanship in the portraiture of John Perceval.

Old Blighty

Magazine article by Angus Trumble, 2016

Angus Trumble ponders the many faces of William Bligh.

Angkor Wat

Magazine article by Jane Kinsman, 2007

Nothing quite prepares the first-time visitor to Cambodia for the scale and grandeur of the monuments of the ancient Khmer civilisation of Angkor.

Themes and variations (Annelies) A13, 1946

Listening to form

National Gallery of Australia curator Jane Kinsman discusses the portraiture of Henri Matisse.

Thinking about architecture and portraiture

Dr Christopher Chapman describes the experimental exhibition Portraits + Architecture

The aviatrix

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

A Family Being Served with Tea, ca. 1745 by an unknown artist

A reflection on conversation pieces

There is in the collection of the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut, an English painting, datable on the basis of costume to about 1745, that has for many years exercised my imagination.

The 1950s to the present day

Mo and beard timeline

Certain European leaders (needless to name) had the effect of making certain styles of facial hair decidedly undesirable in the years immediately after World War 2.

Equation of a life - a portrait of Professor Derek Denton

Equation of a life – a portrait of Derek Denton

9 September 2016

The National Portrait Gallery, has welcomed the newest portrait commission of Emeritus Professor Derek Denton AC by Evert Ploeg.

Janet Dawson

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.’

The more things change

Magazine article by Gillian Raymond, 2007

National Photographic Portrait Prize curator, Sarah Engledow, finds reward in a difficult task and ultimately uncovers the essence of portraiture.

Virtual lives

A brief introduction to the Weird, Wired World of Internet Portraiture.

Mary (or Diana) Croker, mat woman, Colchester, 1823 by John Dempsey

Unknown drawer

Magazine article by Dr David Hansen, 2017

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

The 1890s to the 1940s

Mo and beard timeline

Although the tough, weathered, hard-drinking bushmen of the kind mythologised by writers like Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson are popularly associated with the character of late nineteenth century Australia, it was also a time when alternative ideas about identity began to come into play.

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 line of fire

Magazine article by Michelle Fracaro, 2005

Michelle Fracaro examines the life of World War II nurse Margaret Anderson, whose portrait by Napier Waller is in the NPG collection.

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

In the thick of it

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.

Suave

Magazine article by Christopher Baker, 2013

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

Hot Scots

James Holloway describes the first portraits you encounter when entering the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

Patrick White at Centennial Park, 1979–1980

Listomania

Magazine article by Elspeth Pitt, 2024

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.

Self-nature is subtle and mysterious - Tree Woman / Woman Tree

Between life and death you’re a miracle

Elspeth Pitt talks to multidisciplinary artist Nell about ghosts, artistic lineages and hybrid art forms.

Big bouquet of Blackmans

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

Selected images

Magazine article by John Witzig, 2008

Take a peek at a selection of the portraits you can see in the exhibition.

Off the wall

Photographer and surf mag editor John Witzig tells the stories behind his iconic surf images.

Courage, Self-analysis and Skill

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2002

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

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.

Self Portrait in red shirt, 1937 by Arthur Boyd

Arthur as Alyosha?

Magazine article by Patrick McCaughey, 2015

Patrick McCaughey explores a striking Boyd self portrait.

Past directors

History

Directors of the National Portrait Gallery from 1998 to today.

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

Waterloo and Mrs. Moore

Magazine article by Diana Warnes, 2006

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.

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.

The Coronation Theatre, Westminster Abbey: A Portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2012

Imagination

Magazine article by Sharon Peoples, 2017

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

Unbuttoning uniforms

Sharon Peoples contemplates costumes and the construction of identity.

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.

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

The existential lens

Magazine article by Stephen Zagala, 2013

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

Queen Victoria

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.

Inner Worlds and psychoanalysis

Lecture, 4 June 2011

Inner Worlds evokes a broad view of psychology as a discipline. However, the specific interests of the practitioners whose portraits are included in the exhibition incorporate specialist areas including psychoanalysis.

Picture this...

This edited version of a speech by Andrew Sayers examines some of the antecedents of the National Portrait Gallery and set out the ideas behind the modern Gallery and its collection.

Portrait of Lady Eyre Williams (Jessie Gibbon)

Chance encounter

Magazine article by Jude Rae, 2016

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

Ms Anna Burke MP, Speaker of the House of Representatives 2015 by Jude Rae

Hired guns, bounty hunters and horse whisperers

Jude Rae contemplates the portrait commission.

Lyndall Hobbs and Marilyn at the Come as your favourite blonde party, Blitz Club, London, 1979 Robert Rosen

Shiny, happy people

Magazine article by Glynis Jones, 2022

Glynis Jones on the Powerhouse’s retrospective of one of Australia’s foremost fashion reportage and social photographers.

Seeing stars

Celebrating Science Week

Magazine article by Natalie Wilson, 2023

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

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.

9 lives of Karin Catt

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2006

Australian photographer Karin Catt has shot across the spectrum of celebrity, her subjects including rock stars, world leaders and actors.

Promise Fulfilled

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2010

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

Fine and dandy

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.

Doodles of the Diva

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2007

Three tiny sketches of Dame Nellie Melba in the NPG collection were created by the artist who was to go on to paint the most imposing representation of the singer: Rupert Bunny.

Painters' paradise

Andrew Sayers feels the warmth in the paintings Matthew Perceval made while the sun shone in southern France.

Andrew Sayers AM FAHA

13 October 2015

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2017

The Chairman, Board, Director and staff mourn the loss of the National Portrait Gallery's inaugural director.

Through thick and thin

Sarah Engledow likes the manifold mediums of Nicholas Harding’s portraiture.

Opening of the First Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia by H.R.H. The Duke of Cornwall and York, May 9, 1901, 1903 by Tom Roberts

Empire records

Magazine article by Kylie Scroope, 2011

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

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.

I’ll miss you copying things, 2018 Joan Ross

When birds no longer sing

Magazine article by Dr Emma Kindred, 2024

Emma Kindred looks at the career of Joan Ross, whose work subverts colonial imagery and its legacy with the clash of fluorescent yellow.

First-Class Marksman, 1946 by Sidney Nolan

Money for Myth

Magazine article by Jane Raffan, 2015

Australian character on the market by Jane Raffan.

Diamond Doll

Magazine article by Karen Vickery, 2016

Karen Vickery delights in a thespian thread of the Australian yarn.

Earth to earth

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

The selfie stick

Magazine article by Sandy Nairne, 2006

Last week ABC Television came to interview me about selfie sticks. The story was prompted by the announcement that the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has lately prohibited the use of these inside their galleries. So far as I am aware we have not yet encountered the phenomenon, but no doubt we will before too long.

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.

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.

Facing Facts

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

The shipwright's arms

Magazine article by David Ward, 2010

Joanna Gilmour explores the life and times of convict-turned-artist William Buelow Gould.

Hide/Seek

David Ward writes about the exhibition Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture on display at the National Portrait Gallery, Washington.

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.

Four from the 30s

NPPP 2017 exhibition essay

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.

Trevor Jamieson, 2016 by Brett Canet-Gibson

The more things change...

Magazine article by Magda Keaney, 2003

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

Myself and Eye

Magda Keaney speaks with Lewis Morley about his photographic career and the major retrospective of his work on display at the NPG.

Thua Tich, South Vietnam, 1969-06 by Christopher Bellis

The jungle look

Magazine article by David Gist, 2019

David Gist steps beyond the public relations veneer of Australia’s official Vietnam War portrait photographs.

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.

Reflections on portraiture

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2004

An extract from the 2004 Nuala O'Flaaherty Memorial Lecture at the Queen Victoria Musuem and Art Gallery in Launceston in which Andrew Sayers reflects on the unique qualities of a portrait gallery.

NPPP 2016 exhibition essay

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2011

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

The inner voice

Dr Christopher Chapman, curator of Inner Worlds: Portraits & Psychology looks at Albert Tucker's Heidelberg military hospital portraits.

The Conciliation, 1840 by Benjamin Duterrau

The art of conciliation

Magazine article by Gareth Knapman, 2017

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

The portrait writ large

Magazine article by Karen Vickery, 2015

Karen Vickery on Chang the Chinese giant in Australia.

The Right Honourable Sir Ninian Stephen KGAK GCMG GCVO KBE QC, 2006 by Rick Amor

Prima facie

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2019

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

Albert Jonas and John Xiniwe of The African Choir, 1891 London Stereoscopic Co.

Back in black

Magazine article by Krysia Kitch, 2017

Krysia Kitch reviews black chronicles at the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Artists at home

Magazine article by Karina Dias Pires, 2023

Karina Dias Pires shares the stories behind her portraits of women artists in their creative spaces.

Mrs Cameron and the V&A

Magazine article by Magda Keaney, 2003

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

Photograph from Eye to I series, 2022 David Lindesay

A portrait of the artist by the artist

Magazine article by Jennifer Higgie, 2022

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

Women make history

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

Confessional conversations

The portraiture of Kristin Headlam

Magazine article by Fiona Gruber, 2015

Fiona Gruber investigates the work of Australian painter Kristin Headlam.

NPPP 2012 learning resource

Learning resource archive

Exploring select works from the NPPP 2012. For secondary students.

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.

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.

Heartfelt

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2018

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

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

Presence and absence

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

Face of South Sudan, 2012 by Melanie Faith Dove

NPPP 2013 exhibition essay

Magazine article by Dr David Hansen, 2022

Joanna Gilmour, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2013 Prize.

Unheroic Materialism: little harmless fragments of memory and association: a portrait of Angus Trumble, 2019 Evert Ploeg

The last word

David Hansen’s tribute to his close friend, prince of words and former National Portrait Gallery director, the late Angus Trumble.

Surface tension

Magazine article by Tenille Hands, 2018

Joanna Gilmour on the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2013.

The life of Bryant

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

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

The catechist and the cricketer

Magazine article by Stephen Valambras Graham, 2021

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

Support Crew

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2011

Portraits of philanthropists in the collection honour their contributions to Australia and acknowledge their support of the National Portrait Gallery.

Me Myself I

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2001

Andrew Sayers explores the self-portraits created by Australian artist Sidney Nolan.

Robyn Sweaney

Magazine article by Gillian Raymond, 2005

Robyn's parents had two terriers, Wuff and Snuff. In spite of Snuff’s ominous name and a couple of close shaves – once, he jumped out of a moving car, and another time, on a long road trip, he was accidentally left behind at a petrol station – he outlived Wuff.

Corporate Characters

A collection of thirty-seven caricatures by the artist Joe Greenberg capture the heroes and villians of Australian business in the 1980s.

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

Lovingly observed

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2006

Sarah Engledow previews the beguiling summer exhibition, Idle hours.

Is the truth of portraiture vested exclusively in likeness?

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

Helena Rubinstein in a red brocade Balenciaga gown

Study in scarlet

Magazine article by Angus Trumble, 2018

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

Beguiling impressions

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2012

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

Flesh, figure and rock

Magazine article by Aimee Board, 2018

Aimee Board traces Judy Cassab’s path to the Australian outback, arriving at the junction of inspiration and abstraction.

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

Black and white history

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2009

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

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

For the boys

Magazine article by Alistair McGhie, 2011

The photographs from Matthew Sleeth's tour of duty series look more like advertisements than images of war.

Reflections

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2020

All that fall: Sacrifice, life and loss in the First World War exhibition co-curators Dr Anne Sanders and Dr Christopher Chapman reflect on the evolution of the Gallery’s Anzac Centenary exhibition.

The long game

Penelope Grist spends some quality time with the Portrait Gallery’s summer collection exhibition, Eye to Eye.

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.

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

Petal to the mettle

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2019

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

School portraits

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

Some prime ministers

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

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

Portraiture in a Bleak House

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2011

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.

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.

Hyperversity

Magazine article by Emeritus Professor Jaynie Anderson AM, 2015

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

Sitter still

Jaynie Anderson reflects on her experience as sitter for Reshid Bey’s 1962 portrait.

Writing on the Wall, 2019 Dr Christian Thompson AO

To arrive at hope

NPPP 2020 exhibition essay

Magazine article by Aimee Board, 2017

Penelope Grist, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2020 Prize.

Progressive pictures

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

Flash mob

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2019

Sarah Engledow trains her exacting lens on the nine photographs from 20/20.

Trumble's way

Magazine article by Inga Walton, 2022

At the end of a summer break one is tempted to say that there is nothing much to report. Isn’t one restful holiday very much like another?

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.

The National Portrait Gallery's 20th birthday party

The National Portrait Gallery's 20th Anniversary

Magazine article by Angus Trumble, 2015

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.

Desperately seeking Sonia

Esther Erlich’s portrait of Lady McMahon.

Faces of war

Lecture, 14 May 2011

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2015

Lesley Harding, Curator, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne explores Albert Tucker’s experience of World War II, his interests in the intersection between psychology and creativity, and their influence on his portrait making.

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.

Small worlds

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2010

Bess Norriss Tait created miniature watercolour portraits full of character and life.

A sketch for some portraits

Magazine article by Judith Pugh, 2005

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

Speed demon

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

The art of Inner Worlds

Lecture, 7 May 2011

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2010

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

Technical terminology

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

Queen Alexandra and Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia, Hvidore, circa 1908 by Mary Steen

The cost of living luxuriously

In 1904, the Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia purchased as a gift for her sister, Queen Alexandra, a fan composed of two-color gold, guilloché enamel, mother-of-pearl, blond tortoiseshell, gold sequins, silk, cabochon rubies, and rose diamonds from the House of Fabergé in Saint Petersburg.

In profile

Magazine article by Oliver Giles, 2023

Polly Borland talks to Oliver Giles about the celebrity portraits that made her name and why she’s now making more abstract art.

The silent partner

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2015

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

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

First encounters

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2011

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

The look and the feel

Living Memory exhibition essay

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2008

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

Studio of the American & Australasian Photographic Co., Hill End, 1872

A rogue's calling card

Joanna Gilmour explores the stories behind the ninteenth-century carte de visites of bushrangers Frank Gardiner and Fred Lowry.

The play’s the thing

Penelope Grist charts an immersive path through Stuart Spence’s photography.

Less than six degrees of separation

Lecture, 28 May 2011

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

Abstraction and figuration

James Angus discusses his major sculpture commission Geo Face Distributor with Christopher Chapman.

Nicholas Harding: 28 Portraits

Exhibition essay

Magazine article by Angus Trumble, 2019

Sarah Engledow looks at three decades of Nicholas Harding's portraiture.

Karl Robert, Count Nesselrode, 1818 by Sir Thomas Lawrence

The Lawrence lustre

Angus Trumble salutes the glorious portraiture of Sir Thomas Lawrence.

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.

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

The Rothschilds, the Montefiores, and the Victorian Gold Rush

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2007

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.

Good, bad and the ugly

Michael Desmond explores what makes a portrait subject significant.

Adam’s Prize Apples

Magazine article by Pamela Gerrish Nunn, 2016

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

The Multifarious Career of George Selth Coppin

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2004

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

Beyond the bow tie

Magazine article by Angus Trumble, 2017

Nathan Faiman delves into the rich life story and legacy of Alan Goldberg.

Portrait of William Manning, c.1821 by Henry Bone

Of beef in burgundy

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.

Self Portrait with Stetson, 2011 by Darren McDonald

Painting them gently

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2015

Penny Grist on motivation, method and melancholy in the portraiture of Darren McDonald.

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.

Lovers of light

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2008

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

Rick Amor: 21 Portraits

Magazine article by Krysia Kitch, 2016

Sarah Engledow chronicles Rick Amor's work and accomplishments in this extensive essay in conjunction with the exhibition Rick Amor: 21 Portraits.

Studio portrait of servicewoman Lance Corporal Kathleen Jean Mary (Kath) Walker, c.1942

Past present

Krysia Kitch celebrates Oodgeroo Noonuccal.

William Charles Wentworth -The Australian Patriot

The Wentworths – Hidden in Plain Sight

Magazine article by Dr Grace Blakeley-Carroll, 2015

Grace Carroll on the gendered world of the Wentworths.

Their brilliant careers

Magazine article by Jenny Gall, 2017

Jenny Gall delves into Starstruck to celebrate some of Australian cinema’s iconic women.

Illuminating history

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2023

Joanna Gilmour reflects on 25 years of collecting at the National Portrait Gallery.

The mind's eye

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2017

Christopher Chapman takes a trip through the doors of perception, arriving at the junction of surrealism and psychoanalysis.

Splendid, many-splendoured

Magazine article by Sandra Bruce, 2021

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

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.

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

Embrace your inner nerd

Magazine article by Jennifer Higgie, 2022

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.

Hard truths

Jennifer Higgie reveals how Alice Neel reinvigorated 20th century portraiture with her honest and perceptive depictions of the human experience.

Venus, 2022 Jordan Richardson, Archibald Prize 2022 finalist

We Were There

Magazine article by Benjamin Law, 2025

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

In good company

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2015

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

The Art Lovers - Megan, 2013 by Gary Grealy

Everybody, look serious

NPPP 2014 exhibition essay

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2010

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

You beauty

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

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.

Cultural kaleidoscope

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

Kristin Headlam

Magazine article by Rebecca Harkins-Cross, 2025

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.

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

Great Experimentations

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

Starry knight

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

Through blue eyes

Works by Arthur Boyd and Sidney Nolan bring the desert, the misty seashore and the hot Monaro plains to exhibition Open Air: Portraits in the landscape.

Mugshots

Magazine article by Jane Raffan, 2017

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

Sarah Bernhardt, 1876 by Georges Clairin

Demimonde liaisons

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

Nicholas Harding

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2022

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.

Portrait of a Pioneer , 1917
Violet Teague

Off her own bat

Joanna Gilmour profiles Violet Teague, whose sophisticated works hid her originality and non-conformity in plain sight.

Louise Lovely feeding gulls in a park, 1969 Unknown photographer

Jewelled nights

Magazine article by Dr Anne Sanders, 2017

Anne Sanders celebrates the cinematic union of two pioneering australian women.

Portfolio of 54 portraits compiled by Queen Victoria, 1859–1861 by John Jabez Edwin Mayall, Camille Silvy, Frances Day and William Bambridge

Queen of cartes

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2019

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.

Regarding Henrys

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2015

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

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

Political profiles

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2016

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

Generous Janice

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

An evening at Yarra Cottage, Port Stephens

Maria Caroline Brownrigg

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2007

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

Painting writing

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

The Triumph of Death, c. 1562 by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

The Black Death

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2022

The best horror stories are real. A flea sinks its proboscis into the skin of a sick black rat, feeds on its blood, and ingests lethally multiplying bacteria.

You are who?

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

Group photograph taken at the coronation of King George VI including Queen Elizabeth II, Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and the Queen Mother, 12 May 1937 by Hay Wrightson

Poise and Carats