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Madame Sibly, Phrenologist and Mesmerist, c. 1870

Purchased 2017

Sibly irresistible

Alexandra Roginski reveals a forceful feminist figure in the colonial period’s slippery science, phrenology.

Jane Windeyer, n.d.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Windeyer family 2012

Madame Carandini, c. 1872

Purchased 2022

Madame Melba, 1922

Purchased 2015

Portrait 61

Max Dupain's unknown portrait subjects, phrenologist Madame Sibly, Indigenous-European relationships, Thomas Gainsborough and more.

Fame or celebrity?

A question lately cropped up in connection with Madame Melba as to whether fame and celebrity are not essentially the same thing. My feeling is that they are different.

The Waxworks

Waxworks were among the various types of entertainment venue to emerge in Australian cities in the mid-nineteenth century. 

Anna May Wong

Portrait of Florence Broadhurst, 1968

Purchased 2007

Amy Castles, c. 1899

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Jim and Barbara Higgins 2012

Frances Saville, 1903

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2007

The Lawn at Flemington on Melbourne Cup Day, c. 1889

Purchased 2009

Amy Castles, c. 1902

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Jim and Barbara Higgins 2012

Steven Heathcote, 2007

Gift of the artist 2008

Hail Cézanne

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

Rarely Everage

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

Australian Princess

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

Dancer

From letting loose in the loungeroom to enthralling audiences on stage, this exhibition celebrates dance and dancers.

Rosina Carandini, mid 1860s

Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Fannie Carandini, mid 1860s

Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

The sensational denouement of the case

The 'Yarra Boot Trunk Tragedy' unfolded a week before Christmas 1898, when some neighbourhood boys noticed a wooden box floating in the river at Richmond. 

Chang the Chinese Giant with his wife Kin Foo and manager Edward Parlett, c. 1871

Purchased 2010

The National Portrait Gallery's 20th Anniversary

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.

Essential portraiture

Michael Desmond in conversation with University of Houston professor of philosophy Cynthia Freeland.

Blue Collar Icon

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

Time and light

This sample of 56 photographs takes in some of the smallest photographs we own and some of the largest, some of the earliest and some of the most recent, as well as multiple photographic processes from daguerreotypes to digital media.

Bewitching

Roger Neill delves into the life of a lesser-known Australian diva, Frances Alda.

Ingres in Paris

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

Study in scarlet

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

Pretty in peach

Sideshow Alley

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.

Eating the seasons

Anne Sanders imbibes Tony Bilson’s gastronomic revolution.

The last word

David Hansen’s tribute to his close friend, prince of words and former National Portrait Gallery director, the late Angus Trumble.

Life class

Barbara Blackman reflects on her experiences as a life model.

Be bold

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

A feast of friends

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

Doodles of the Diva

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.

Poise and Carats

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

Beguiling impressions

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

Little women

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

Less than six degrees of separation

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