Search / philip king

Portrait, oil crayon and collage of printed magazine cuttings

Philip Gidley King (1758-1808), naval officer and governor, joined the navy in late 1770 and served in the East Indies and American waters.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait of Philip Nitschke, 1998 (re-worked 2009)

Amanda King

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Lieutenant King, 1789

William Skelton after J. Wright

Purchased 2010

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

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

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

Philip Hunter

Philip Hunter (1958-2017), painter, studied art in Melbourne before holding his first solo exhibition there in 1982.

1 portrait in the collection

Philip Flood AO

Former Australian diplomat and public servant Philip Flood AO (b. 1935) gained a Bachelor of Economics (Hons) degree at the University of Sydney before joining the Australian Government's Department of External Affairs in 1958.

1 portrait in the collection

Philip Williams

During 46 years as a journalist, Philip Williams (b. 1957) covered the world’s biggest news events.

1 portrait in the collection

Isobel Parker Philip introduces artist Thom Roberts, whose distinctive portraits of people, buildings and personified trains define the world as he experiences it.

Philip Flood AO, 2020

Sean Hutton

Gift of Philip and Carole Flood 2021

Philip Hunter, 2004

Julian Kingma

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2006

Portrait of Philip Williams, 2019

Rick Amor

Gift of Rick Amor and Meg Williams in memory of Althea 'Bid' Williams 2020. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Return, 2016

by Philip Myers

Return (Balang T.E. Lewis), 2016

Philip Myers

Gift of the artist 2019

The Boys Next Door, 1978

Michel Lawrence

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999

Bon Scott and Angus Young, AC/DC

AC/DC

Amanda King

Amanda King is a Sydney-based visual artist and producer and director of film documentaries.

1 portrait in the collection

Martin King

Martin King, an artist who specialises in making works on paper, was born in 1957 in Melbourne.

1 portrait in the collection

Inge King AO

Inge King AO (1915–2016), sculptor, was at the forefront of the development of non-figurative sculpture in Australia and remained one of Australia’s outstanding sculptors into her 80s – a time in her life in which she continued to develop innovative work.

1 portrait in the collection

Bernard King

Bernard King (1934–2002), chef and television personality, grew up on a farm at Maleny in Queensland and appeared in his first talent quest at the age of eight.

1 portrait in the collection

William Francis King, 'The Flying Pieman'

William King

William Francis King (1807-1873), aka 'The Flying Pieman', accomplished a series of bizarre athletic feats during the 1840s.

1 portrait in the collection

King George V

George Frederick Ernest Albert, The Duke of Cornwall and York and later King George V (1865-1936), was the son of Edward VII, the man for whom the Edwardian era was named.

4 portraits in the collection

Inge King

In their own words

Recorded 1965

Jim King, Kings Parking, n.d.

Mr King (Bernard King), c. 1979

Jon Waddy

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Captain James King

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

1 portrait in the collection

Phillip Parker King

Phillip Parker King RN (1791–1856) has been described as the first Australian-born person to succeed in the world outside the colonies.

1 portrait in the collection

Leah King-Smith

Contributing artists

Born: 1957, Gympie, QLD
Works: Brisbane

Radio Birdman (cover shot for Radios Appear album)

Cold Chisel

Radio Birdman

Radio Birdman

Charles Kean, c. 1865

H N. King

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Inge King, 1968

Mark Strizic

Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2003

Duke of Cornwall and York (later King George V)

Duke of Cornwall and York (later King George V), 1903

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Roberts 2015

Duke of Cornwall and York (later King George V), 1903

Portrait, platinum photograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Roberts 2015

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

John Davis

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite

Gift of the family of FW Macpherson 2010

Anna Josepha King, c. 1826-1832

Portrait, watercolour and gouache on ivory

Purchased 2018

Duke of Cornwall and York (later King George V), 1901

Johnstone O'Shannessy & Co

Martin King

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

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

Phillip Parker King, 1854

Thomas Woolner

Portrait, cast plaster

Purchased 2000

Edward Hargraves, c. 1884

Henry King

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on cabinet card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

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

John & Charles Watkins

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite photograph on card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2020

H.M. King George V at his desk, c. 1921

E.O. Hoppé, Raphael Tuck and Sons Ltd

Portrait, postcard print on card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2020

HRH Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark

Ralph Heimans AM

Francesco Bartolozzi after John Webber

Captain James King, engraving after Webber, 1784

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

Society of Artists Selection Committee, 1907

Henry King

Purchased 2008

Malcolm and Angus Young, AC/DC

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on original lithograph title sheet

Australian Aboriginal Cricketers, 1867

Patrick Dawson

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009

King Edward Terrace

Behind the street name

Visiting the gallery

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

Philip, 2008

by Kate Lewis

Anne Hyde, Duchess of York and King James II

Sir Peter Lely

Maria Kozic and Philip Brophy 1, 1981, 1981 (printed 2012)

Robert Rooney

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

King Charles I

Gerrit van Honthorst

Portrait, ink, charcoal and conté on paper

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.

Willie ‘Bomba’ King, 2019

Jason McNamara

Mr King was once on Countdown, 2010

by Ben Searcy

King Henry VIII

Unknown artist

Philip Noyce on the set of 'Heatwave', Sydney

Philip Noyce on the set of 'Heatwave', Sydney, 1981 (printed 2000)

David Moore

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

Breakfast with bats, 2017

by Douglas Philip Gimesy

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

Bringing down a kingdom

Lust

The king and the showgirl

Richard Pratt, Cardboard King, n.d.

Joe Greenberg

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001

King Kamanda, 2015

by Ella Rubeli

Portrait, lithograph on paper

Gooseberry, widow of King Bungaree, 1836

William Fernyhough

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

Her Majesty, The Queen, Elizabeth II (Blue)

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

Polly Borland

Magazine article by Rick Amor, 2021

Purchased 2021

Observation point

While visiting the National Portrait Gallery I noticed the absence of paintings of journalists.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (1926–2022)

9 September 2022

Archived media releases 2022

The National Portrait Gallery is deeply saddened by the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning monarch in British history. Throughout her 70-year reign, Her Majesty represented graciousness, humanity and stability during times of enormous social change.

Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (future Queen Elizabeth II)

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

Charles Wheeler

Portrait, coloured chalk on artist board

Purchased 2019

Donors

$10,000 - $49,999

Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother (1900–2002) was born the Honourable Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon.

Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel

Sir Peter Paul Rubens

HM Queen Elizabeth II, 2001

Polly Borland

Portrait, print on transparency film

Purchased 2002

Study for commissioned portrait, "Equation of life - a portrait of Professor Derek Denton", 2016

Evert Ploeg

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with the assistance of funds provided by Janet Whiting AM, Philip Lukies and Antonia Syme 2016

George Rose, 1811

Giovanni Vendramini, T Cadell & W Davies after William Evans, Sir William Beechey

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Geoffrey Rush, 2006

by William Yang

Portrait, coloured chalk on artist board

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

Charles Wheeler

Purchased 2019

Queen Elizabeth II

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (1926–2022) was the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York, who subsequently became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.

4 portraits in the collection

Lola Montes, c. 1845

Joseph Karl Stieler

Portrait, charcoal on paper

Purchased 2010

Julian Rossi Ashton, 1933

Eric Wilson

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Philip Bacon AM 2012

Location

Plan your visit

We’re on King Edward Terrace in front of the High Court and next to the National Gallery of Australia. We are open every day of the year from 10am to 5pm, except 25 December.

Thomas Clark

Thomas Clark, teacher and painter, arrived in Victoria from England in about 1852, having been anatomical draftsman at King's College London and headmaster of the Birmingham School of Design.

1 portrait in the collection

The Mosh Pit

More photographs by Bob King, Stuart Spence, 'pling, Tony Mott, and Wendy McDougall.

Duchess of Cornwall and York (later Queen Mary)

Duchess of Cornwall and York (later Queen Mary), 1903

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Roberts 2015

Duchess of Cornwall and York (later Queen Mary), 1903

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Roberts 2015

Duchess of Cornwall and York (later Queen Mary), 1903

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Roberts 2015

Francis Lymburner, 1941

Gift of Richard King 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

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

Magna Carta

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

William Evans

The draftsman and engraver William Evans reproduced many of Sir William Beechey’s portraits including that of King George..

3 portraits in the collection

Bungaree

Bungaree (c. 1775–1830), voyager, navigator and diplomat, was among the most significant Sydney-area Indigenous leaders of the early colonial period.

3 portraits in the collection

Godfrey Miller, 1949

Kerry Dundas

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

William John Wills

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

3 portraits in the collection

Robert O'Hara Burke

Robert O'Hara Burke (1821-1861), explorer, came to Australia in 1853 and joined the Victorian police force.

4 portraits in the collection

Garry Shead and Tom Thompson, 1993

Adam Knott

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

Garry Shead and Tom Thompson, 1993

Adam Knott

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on brown cardboard presentation mount

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

J.H. Roy Rousel, 1915

Appleby Studio

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

JH Roy Rousel, 1915

Teslar Studios

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on brown cardboard presentation mount

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

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

The Capel Family

Cornelius Johnson

Oliver Cromwell

Robert Walker

Dance for Wellbeing 'Dancing With Alzheimers' at Belconnen Arts Centre

Lorna Sim

Sir Robert Helpmann, c. 1965 (printed 2015)

Jozef Vissel

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Jozef Vissel 2015

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

Balang T E Lewis

Balang T.E. Lewis (1958–2018), a Murrungun man, was an actor, singer, songwriter and cultural leader.

2 portraits 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

Rayner Hoff, 1924

Gift of Richard King 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

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

Willow Legge

Portrait, etching, hand coloured on paper

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

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

The great South Sea caterpillar transformed into a Bath Butterfly (Sir Joseph Banks), 1795 (printed 1851)

James Gillray

Gift of Douglas Stewart Fine Books 2013

The Hon. Susan Crennan AC KC

The Hon. Susan Crennan AC KC (b. 1945) is a leading barrister and former High Court judge.

1 portrait in the collection

Geoffrey Rush, 1997

Montalbetti + Campbell

Purchased 1999

Mozart Street

‘Sandy’, Yarra River

Carolyn

The Aboriginal community of Lake Tyers, Gippsland

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

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on paper on card

Purchased 2010

Caroline Slade

Maria Kozic

Your backstage pass to 70s and 80s sounds and scenes

Maria Kozic (b. 1957), painter and sculptor, and Philip Brophy (b. 1959), film director, composer, performer and curator, collaborated in the avant-garde performance/happening group ??? (spoken as tsk tsk tsk) and other projects between 1977 and the mid-1980s.

1 portrait in the collection

Jimmy Barnes at The Coogee Bay Hotel 1984 (detail) Grant Matthews

Pub Rock

Previous exhibition, 2020

Celebrate the people, places and sounds of Australian pub rock and its enduring impact on our nation’s identity.

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.

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

Neil Armfield (study), 2010

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned 2010

Phillip Brophy

1 portrait in the collection

Neil Armfield, 2010

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned 2010

Adelaide, Königin von Grossbritranien u Irland

Adelaide of Saxe-Coburg Meiningen

Adelaide of Saxe-Coburg Meiningen (1792–1849) was the consort of King William IV of England.

1 portrait in the collection

Neil Armfield (study), 2010

Portrait, spray paint on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned 2010

Neil Armfield (study), 2010

Portrait, spray paint on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned 2010

Mickey Johnson

Mickey Johnson (1834-1906) was an Indigenous leader in the Illawarra district of New South Wales during the second half of the nineteenth century.

1 portrait in the collection

Basil P. Bressler

Basil Philip Bressler, who died in 2000, was a surveyor with an amateur interest in art and music.

Johann Zoffany

Portraits from prime time

Johann Zoffany, painter of portraits and conversation pieces, grew up in the court of the Prince von Thurn und Taxis in Germany, where his father was employed.

1 portrait in the collection

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.

Ralph Heimans

Portraiture. Power. Influence.

Photographs by Alfred Wertheimer

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

On train from New York to Memphis, July 4, 1956 by Alfred Wertheimer

Elvis At 21

Previous exhibition, 2013

Elvis at 21 is a photographic exhibition capturing Elvis’ rise to fame in the year 1956, before security and money built walls between him and his fans.

Robert O'Hara Burke, c. 1860

Melbourne and Sydney Photographic Co

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Parking

Plan your visit

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

Tom E Lewis [Balang T E Lewis], n.d.

Juno Gemes

Purchased 2021

Regent Street

Jimmy Wululu

Jimmy Wululu (1936-2005) was a Gupapuyngu (Yolgnu) painter and sculptor.

1 portrait in the collection

Vale Street

Vale Street

Queen Mary

George Frederick Ernest Albert, The Duke of Cornwall and York and later King George V (1865-1936), was the son of Edward VII, the man for whom the Edwardian era was named.

3 portraits in the collection

Lynn

William Lanne

William Lanne (1834-1869), also known as King Billy or William Laney, is said to have been Truganini's third partner.

3 portraits in the collection

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2024

The National Photographic Portrait Prize 2024 celebrates established and emerging artistic talent from across the country.

Max

Rachel Mounsey

Portrait, charcoal and pastel on paper

Self portrait, 2001

Jeffrey Smart AO

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Margaret Olley Art Trust 2002

In Bloom

A collection of the beautiful, bold and botanical

Current exhibition

Explore the beauty and symbolism of flowers in this weird and wonderful floral extravaganza that showcases more than 50 portraits from the collection, new acquisitions and selected loans.

Phillip Gudthaykudthay

Philip Gudthaykudthay (b. 1935) Liyagalawumirr (Yolgnu) bark painter, worked as a young man as a stockman, fencer and crocodile hunter around Milingimbi and Ramingining.

1 portrait in the collection

William Dampier

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

William Dampier (1651-1715), seafarer and writer, had spent a good deal of time at sea as a buccaneer and merchant sailor before he spent three months in 1688 around King Sound (northern Western Australia) on the Cygnet.

1 portrait in the collection

Robert O'Hara Burke, Leader of the Victorian Expedition

Robert O'Hara Burke, Leader of the Victorian Expedition, 1860-1861

Portrait, mezzotint on paper

Purchased with funds provided by Ross A Field 2007

David Jones

David Jones (1793-1873), merchant, began his retail career in Pembrokeshire and London before emigrating to Sydney via Hobart.

1 portrait in the collection

Karla Dickens

Karla Dickens (b. 1967), Wiradjuri artist, graduated with a degree in Fine Arts from the National Art School in Sydney in 2000 and has since built a diverse practice across the mediums of painting, photography, mixed media and installation.

2 portraits in the collection

George A. Highland

George A Highland (1874-1954), theatrical producer, grew up in England, where, as a choirboy, he came to the attention of Arthur Sullivan.

1 portrait in the collection

Contributing artists

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

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

Rev. Fred Nile, Festival of Light, Sydney

Fred Nile MLC

The Rev. Fred Nile MLC (b. 1934) Leader of the Christian Democratic Party was born and raised in King's Cross, Sydney.

1 portrait in the collection

2015-17 Acquisition Fund

Portrait, oil on composition board

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.

Self portrait in green hues, c. 1962

Roland Wakelin

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

Self portrait with scarf, c. 1930s

Rupert Bunny

Gift of Philip Bacon AM 2012. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

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

Pro Hart & Associates, 2004

Nick Young

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2004

Noel McGrowdie

Noel 'Digger' McGrowdie (1920-1961), jockey, was born in Brisbane and educated at a Christian Brothers School in Toowoomba before being apprenticed in Brisbane at the age of fourteen.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Turner

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

2 portraits in the collection

Visiting the gallery

How to get here

Plan your visit

Maps and public transport information for your visit.

Ralph Heimans AM

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

19 portraits in the collection

Graham Kennedy and the Seekers in Melbourne

Graham Kennedy AO

Graham Kennedy AO (1934-2005), entertainer, began his career in Melbourne radio in 1949.

2 portraits in the collection

Mark Lean: Rape game

Sir William Beechey

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2003

Sir William Beechey, portrait painter and pupil of Johann Zoffany, was greatly influenced by Sir Joshua Reynolds.

1 portrait in the collection

The spirit of the gift

Former NPG Director, Andrew Sayers celebrates the support given to the Gallery by Gordon and Marilyn Darling.

Jimmy Wululu, 1986

Martin van der Wal

Portrait, inkjet print on rag paper

Purchased 2005

Sherbet, 1974 (printed 2002)

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

Daniel Solander

Daniel Solander (1733-1782), naturalist, was a student of Carl Linnaeus, the Swede who devised and systemised the classification of plants and animals used today.

3 portraits in the collection

William Ashton, c. 1940s

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

Coral Browne

Coral Browne (1913-1991) was an Australian actress who left for England in 1934.

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

Executive

Our team

National Portrait Gallery Director Bree Pickering leads the executive team.

Julian Kingma

Faces of the Twentieth Century

Julian Kingma (b. 1968), photographer, began his career in 1988 as a cadet for the Herald newspaper in Melbourne, and later worked for the Sunday Age as Head Features Photographer.

11 portraits 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.

New Gold

Saville Coble

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

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

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

Portrait, mezzotint on paper

Purchased with funds provided by Ross A Field 2007

Phillip Gudthaykudthay, 1986

Martin van der Wal

Portrait, inkjet print on rag paper

Purchased 2005

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

Lear unbuttoned

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2011

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

King Barak, last of the Yarra Tribe, 1899

Barak, respected elder

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2009

Dr Christopher Chapman looks at the life of Wurundjeri elder William Barak through the portrait painted by Victor de Pury in 1899.

The Lambert

Beards

Barbering manuals of the turn of the century might describe this style as a ‘Van Dyck’, named after the Dutch painter Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641) who is known to have adopted this look.

Richard von Marientreu

Richard von Marientreu was born in Poland and attended military academies in Cracow and Vienna before leaving for Prague, where he studied at the Academy of Painting.

2 portraits in the collection

Daryl Braithwaite

Portrait, charcoal on paper

Daryl Braithwaite (b. 1949) finished an apprenticeship as a fitter and turner in 1969, and joined Sherbet shortly afterward.

3 portraits in the collection

Study for portrait of Bob Ellis, 1999

David Naseby

Gift of the artist 2001

Study for portrait of Bob Ellis, 1999

David Naseby

Portrait, charcoal on paper

Gift of the artist 2001

Public Transport

Location

Transport Canberra bus routes run from the various city centres past the Gallery on a regular basis.

Sir Walter Ralegh (Raleigh)

Unknown artist

Portrait, steel engraving with later hand-colouring on paper

Wylie, 1840-1841

Robert Neill

Purchased 2018

Walter Preston

Walter Preston, engraver and convict, came to New South Wales aboard the Guildford in 1812.

1 portrait in the collection

Peter Brock AM

Peter Brock (1945-2006), a professional racing driver from 1972 to 1997, was undoubtedly Australia's best known and most popular motor sports personality.

1 portrait in the collection

Nell Gwyn

Simon Verelst

Miranda Otto

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

3 portraits in the collection

Bobbi Sykes, Aboriginal Medical Service, 1973 Carol Jerrems

Carol Jerrems: Portraits

Carol Jerrems: Portraits is a major exhibition of one of Australia’s most influential photographers. Jerrems’ intimate portraits of friends, lovers and artistic peers transcend the purely personal and have come to shape Australian visual culture.

Maurice O'Shea

Maurice O'Shea (1897-1956) is remembered as a key figure in the formation of the modern Australian wine industry.

1 portrait in the collection

Rick Carey

Rick and Thelma Carey comprise Australian country music's most famous double act, Rick and Thel.

1 portrait in the collection

Glenn Murcutt AO

Glenn Murcutt AO (b. 1936), architect, received the world's highest architectural honour when he was awarded the Pritzker Prize in April 2002.

4 portraits in the collection

Sir Robert Helpmann CBE

Portraits of Australian Visual Artists

Sir Robert Helpmann CBE (1909–1986) was a dancer, actor and choreographer.

3 portraits in the collection

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

The Reflecting Eye

Touring exhibition, 1996

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

Ethel Turner, 1928

Gift of Richard King 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Self portrait in plus fours, c. 1939 (cast 2003)

Lyndon Dadswell CMG

Portrait, cast bronze

Purchased 2004

Cressida Campbell AM

Cressida Campbell AM (b. 1960), artist, has worked for decades in a studio at her home in Bronte, Sydney.

2 portraits in the collection

Ern McQuillan Senior

Ern McQuillan (Senior) (1905-1988), boxing trainer, was born in Newtown, Sydney, and worked there all his life.

1 portrait in the collection

The inside story

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?

Lyndon Dadswell, with his sculpture 'Native'

Lyndon Dadswell CMG

Lyndon Dadswell CMG (1908-1986) studied at the Julian Ashton School before working with Rayner Hoff from 1926 to 1929 and Paul Montford from 1929 to 1935.

3 portraits in the collection

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

Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool

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

1 portrait in the collection

Peter Allen, 1980

William Yang

Purchased 2003

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.

Adrian Feint, 1939

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

Harry Belafonte

Dorothy Wilding

Albert Namatjira, 1958

Sir William Dargie CBE

Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC and with the assistance of Philip Bacon Galleries 2000

Maurice O'Shea, 1951 (printed 2003)

Magazine article by Christine Clark, 2006

Purchased 2005

Ready , set... shoot

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

Longest reign

Queen Elizabeth II is now the longest-reigning British sovereign

2013-14 Acquisition Fund

Percy Leason's Aboriginal Portraits

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.

William Johnson (1873—1948) by Percy Leason

Recognition

Previous exhibition, 1999

Originally conceived as an anthropological record, Percy Leason’s powerful 1934 portraits of Victorian Aboriginal people are today considered to be a highlight of 20th century Australian portraiture

Noel McGrowdie, 1957 (printed 2003)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003

Miss Florrie Ford (Christmas pantomime with toy cat)

Florrie Forde

Florrie Forde (1875–1940), singer and music hall performer, was born in Melbourne and was sixteen when she sang publicly for the first time, in Sydney, in late 1891.

9 portraits in the collection

Norman Lindsay, 1921

Gift of Richard King 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Valentine Green

Previous exhibition, 2002

Valentine Green, engraver, spent two years in a solicitor’s office in Evesham before abandoning the law and becoming a pupil of Robert Hancock, an engraver in Worcester.

1 portrait in the collection

Angela Belgiorno-Zegna, 2001 by Salvatore Zofrea

Intimate Portraits

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

Werner Baer, 1947

Gift of Richard King 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

William Dobell, 1942

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

Princess Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia and Electress Palatine

Robert Peake the Elder

Icons Syndicate

Listed alphabetically

Don Burrows

John Murphy after George Romney

Don Burrows AO MBE (1928-2020) is Australia’s best–known jazz musician.

2 portraits in the collection

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

Portrait, mezzotint on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

Opening of the first Parliament of the Australian Commonwealth, 9th May 1901

Opening of the first Parliament of the Australian Commonwealth, 9th May 1901, 1903

Tom Roberts, Goupil & Cie

Portrait, photogravure on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Penny Amberg and Andrew Bond 2001
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

George Moore

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

Alan Sandow, 1975 (printed 2001)

Previous exhibition, 2003

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

POL

Portrait of a Generation

POL was a magazine that ran from 1969 to 1986

The Sculling Match at Sydney for the Championship of the World

The Sculling Match at Sydney for the Championship of the World, 1877

an unknown artist, The Australasian Sketcher

Portrait, wood engraving on paper

Purchased 2015

Alfred Hill, 1936

Rayner Hoff

Portrait, cast plaster, patinated on wooden base

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2000

H. Searle Professional Champion Sculler of the World (Henry Searle)

H. Searle Professional Champion Sculler of the World (Henry Searle), 1889

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

Portrait, chromolithograph on paper

Purchased 2014

Sir Asher Joel

Sir Asher Joel (1912-1998), public relations entrepreneur and state politician, started out as a copyboy at Sydney’s Daily Telegraph.

1 portrait in the collection

William Nicholas

William Nicholas was born near London and is believed to have trained with English printmaker A.M Huffam.

2 portraits in the collection

John Farnham, 1996

Polly Borland

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2000

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

Don Burrows at work, 1998

Barry Walsh

Edward Scriven, J B Ball & J DeCamp after Sir Thomas Lawrence

Purchased with funds provided by Patrick Corrigan 2000

Rt. Honourable Lord Hawkesbury, 1808

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

L Gordon Darling AC CMG

Pierre Langlume after Jacques Etienne Victor Arago

L. Gordon Darling AC CMG (1921-2015), former company director, was the Founding Patron of the National Portrait Gallery.

2 portraits in the collection

'Timbere sauvage de la nouvelle galles du sud en grand costume (Relache au Port Jackson)'

'Timbere sauvage de la nouvelle galles du sud en grand costume (Relache au Port Jackson)', 1822

Portrait, lithograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

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

Sherbet, 1974

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

Billy Cook and Pride of Egypt, 1954

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

Elvis in Australia

Die-hard Elvis fans from Canberra and surrounding areas share their insights into the phenomenon that was Elvis Presley.

Neil Murray, Bolac, VIC, 2004

John Elliott

A Ninetieth Birthday Tribute

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Sir William Dargie

Previous exhibition, 2002

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

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

Queen Victoria

Victoria (1819–1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1837 until her death in 1901.

8 portraits in the collection

Cressida Campbell, 2001

Greg Weight

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

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

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

Hugo at home (Hugo Weaving), 2011

Nicholas Harding

Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family 2012

Dr Solander, 1772

Portrait, copper-line engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Ern McQuillan Senior, c. 1980s

an unknown artist after Wedgewood

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003

Joseph Banks and Dr Solander, 1778

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

John Farnham AO

Batchelder & Company Photo

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

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Summers, late 1860s

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite

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

Robert Rooney

Portrait, charcoal heightened with white chalk on paper

Robert Rooney (1937-2017), painter, conceptual artist and photographer, studied at Swinburne Technical college from 1954 to 1957.

17 portraits in the collection

Sir Sidney Kidman, 1932

Samuel Woolf

Purchased 2009

Robert Emerson Curtis, 1943

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

Anna Meares, 2018

by Narelle Autio

Portrait, watercolour, gouache and pencil on paper

Commissioned with funds provided by King & Wood Mallesons 2018

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

Commissioned with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001

William Lanne, c. 1866

J.W. Beattie after Charles Woolley

Portrait, albumen silver photograph

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

Raimond Gaita

Previous exhibition, 2017

Raimond Gaita (b. 1946) arrived in Australia in 1950 with his Romanian father and German mother, and was brought up largely by his father near Barninghup, Victoria.

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.

John Bell, 1962 (printed 2006)

Jozef Vissel

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2006

Arthur Boyd in his studio at Bundanon, 1993

Adam Knott

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

Wylie

Barthélemy Roger after Nicolas-Martin Petit

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

Ourou-Maré, dit Bull-Dog par les Anglais, Jeune Guerrier de la Tribu des Gwé-Gal

Ourou-Maré, dit Bull-Dog par les Anglais, Jeune Guerrier de la Tribu des Gwé-Gal, 1807-1817

Purchased 2009

Lisa McCune

Previous exhibition, 2006

Lisa McCune (b. 1971) actor, made her stage debut at fifteen in a production of The Wizard of Oz in Perth.

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.

Heads of the People

A Portrait of Colonial Australia

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

Mickey Johnson, c. 1896

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Donald Friend

Donald Friend (1915-1989), painter, writer and diarist, studied at the RAS and Dattilo-Rubbo’s school in Sydney before spending 1935 and 1936 at the Westminster School in London.

2 portraits in the collection

Chris Lilley

Chris Lilley, satirist and actor, was educated at Pymble Public School and Barker College before gaining his degree from Macquarie University.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Sidney Kidman

Previous exhibition, 2004

Sir Sidney Kidman, pastoralist (1857-1935), is Australia's 'cattle king'.

2 portraits 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.

Robert Rooney, self portrait December 1978, 1978 (printed 2012)

Robert Rooney

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Hugo Weaving AO

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

1 portrait in the collection

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

Supporters

$5,000 - $9,999

Francesco Bartolozzi after Nathaniel Dance

Omai, A Native of Ulaietea, 1774

Purchased with funds provided by Robert Oatley AO 2007

The crime writer Shane Maloney, 2004

Rick Amor

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

Michael Boddy

Portrait, montage of gelatin silver photographs on paper

Michael Boddy (1934–2014), writer and actor, was born in England and educated at Cambridge before arriving in Australia as a 'ten quid migrant' in 1960.

2 portraits in the collection

Robert Helpmann, 1969

David Moore

Purchased 1998

Headspace 4

Facing Memory

Previous exhibition, 2003

Facing Memory: Headspace 4 provides us with valuable insights into the thoughts, creative processes and art-making practices of secondary students from Year 7 to Year 12 from sixty-two schools in the Australian Capital Territory, regional New South Wales and Victoria

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

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

Barthélemy Roger after Nicolas-Martin Petit

Portrait, pencil on paper

Purchased 2009

Sir Asher Joel, n.d.

Louis Kahan AO

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

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

Francis Jukes after John Cleveley

Portrait, aquatint, hand coloured on paper

Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family 2012

Anna Meares, 2018

Narelle Autio

Portrait, oil and hand-stitching on canvas

Commissioned with funds provided by King & Wood Mallesons 2018

James Morrison with flugelhorn, 1994

Kerrie Lester

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

Equation of a life - a portrait of Professor Derek Denton

Equation of a life - a portrait of Professor Derek Denton, 2016

Evert Ploeg

Portrait, oil on linen

Commissioned with the assistance of funds provided by Janet Whiting AM, Philip Lukies and Antonia Syme 2016

Brian Schmidt

In their own words

Recorded 2017

Raimond Gaita, 2012

Dave Tacon

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Lisa McCune, 2000 (printed 2012)

Rob Tuckwell

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Edward Trickett

Celebrating 100 years of the Historic Memorials Collection

Edward 'Ned' Trickett (1851- 916), sculler and hotelier, was the best sculler in New South Wales by 1875.

1 portrait 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.

Kate Fitzpatrick, 1978 (printed 2017)

Robert McFarlane

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2006

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2017

Pre-Raphaelite Profile

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

Master Molteno, c. 1866

Townsend Duryea

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

Rayner Hoff

George Rayner Hoff (1894-1937), sculptor, was born in England and trained at the Royal College of Art, London.

2 portraits in the collection

Creator versus character - Chris Lilley, 2009

John Tsiavis

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2011

Bart Cummings AM

James Bartholomew (Bart) Cummings OAM (1927-2015) was Australia's most successful thoroughbred racehorse trainer.

1 portrait in the collection

Naomi Watts

Moses Griffith after John Lewin

Naomi Watts (b. 1968), actress, was born in England and came to Australia from Wales at the age of fourteen.

1 portrait in the collection

Yango Mungo ye Yango of Bathurst's Plains

Yango Mungo ye Yango of Bathurst's Plains, 1824

Portrait, copper engraving, hand coloured on paper

Purchased 2011

Jane Mander Jones, 1853

Henry Robinson Smith

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

David Jones, 1853

Henry Robinson Smith

Portrait, oil on masonite

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

Peter Elliott, 1964

Jon Molvig

Gift of Richard Elliott 2016. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Elaine Haxton, c. 1940s

Previous exhibition, 2005

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

Glossy 2

Faces, Magazines, Now

Following the success of Glossy: Faces, Magazines, Now in 1999 the National Portrait Gallery again highlights the huge array of contemporary portraiture in the pages of magazines.

Donald Friend, 1987

Greg Weight

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

Bob Ellis

Bob Ellis (1942-2016) was a journalist, columnist, screenwriter, film director and playwright.

3 portraits in the collection

Kate Fitzpatrick, 1983

William Yang

Contemporary women artists make Australian history

Purchased 2003

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

So Fine

Previous exhibition, 2018

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

Naomi Watts, 2003

Peter Brew-Bevan

Portrait, ink and charcoal on paper

Gift of the artist 2004

Donald Friend at Owl Creek, 1983

Lawrence Daws

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Lawrence Daws 2012
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

A Tribute to William Dobell

Previous exhibition, 1999

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

All you can eat

Magazine article by Lauren Dalla, 2003

In February 2003 the National Portrait Gallery Circle of Friends brought Sir Robert Strong to Australia to present a series of lectures entitled The Artists & The Banquet- A History of Dining, which focused on the links between gardens and table decoration from the Renaissance to the Victorian Era.

Dr Stella Cornelius AO OBE, 1989

Judy Cassab AO CBE

Previous exhibition, 2009

Gift of the Cornelius family 2019

National Youth Self Portrait Prize

NYSPP 2009

An annual event, the National Youth Self Portrait Prize seeks to encourage young people to embrace self portraiture and its expressive possibilities.

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.

Sir William Deane AC KBE KC

Portrait, cast bronze relief medallion

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

Charles Joseph La Trobe, 1853

Thomas Woolner

Purchased 2006

David Wenham AM

David Wenham AM (b. 1965), actor, studied drama at the Nepean College of Advanced Education (now the University of Western Sydney), graduating with a BA in Performing Arts in 1987.

1 portrait in the collection

Julian Ashton CBE

Magazine article by Lauren Dalla, 2003

Julian Rossi Ashton CBE (1851-1942), art teacher, artist and critic, trained in art in London and at the Académie Julian in Paris before coming to Australia to work on the Illustrated Australian News in 1878.

4 portraits in the collection

A gift from the heart

Lauren Dalla examines the life of Basil Bressler, the art patron responsible for one of the NPG's most important bequests.

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

Angkor Wat

Nothing quite prepares the first-time visitor to Cambodia for the scale and grandeur of the monuments of the ancient Khmer civilisation of Angkor.

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

Peter Elliott AM

Peter Elliott AM (1927–2014) was an obstetrician, gynaecologist and gynaecological oncologist as well as a significant art collector and patron.

6 portraits in the collection

Neil Murray

Previous exhibition, 1999

Neil Murray (b. 1956), singer/songwriter, grew up in country Victoria, studied art and became a teacher.

2 portraits in the collection

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.

Bob Ellis, 1999

David Naseby

Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001

Baron Ferdinand Jakob Heinrich von Mueller

Sir Ferdinand Jakob Heinrich von Mueller KCMG (1825–1896), botanist, trained in pharmacy and botany in his native Germany before emigrating to Adelaide in 1847.

1 portrait in the collection

Henry Searle

Henry Searle (1886–1889), a sculler known as the ‘Clarence River Comet’, took up rowing as a boy as a means of getting himself and his siblings to and from school.

1 portrait in the collection

Julian Ashton Life Class, 1920

Magazine article by Jennifer Gason, 2003

Purchased 2015

Nobel and his prize

To complement the exhibition Australians and the Nobel Prize, Jennifer Gason gives us a sense of the proceedings that occur during the award ceremony.

Annie May Moore

Annie May Moore (1881-1931) was born in New Zealand and studied at the Elam School of Art and Design in Auckland.

5 portraits in the collection

Australian Tapestry Workshop

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

Jenny Howard

Portrait, cast bronze on granite base

Jenny Howard née Daisy Blowes (1902-1996), stage performer, made her name in her native England as ‘the poor man’s Gracie Fields’, recording covers of Fields’s songs for a cut-price label and impersonating the star onstage.

1 portrait in the collection

Peter Brock, 2000-2001

Julie Edgar

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001

The Swiss Studios, Sydney

The Swiss Studios opened in King Street, Sydney in early 1898, operating from a building described as a 'pleasing reminder of one of those delightful old Swiss chalets, which one always associates with Alpine travel.' The elaborate establishment boasted a first-floor reception room, 'beautifully decorated and luxuriously furnished', 'tastefully arranged dressing rooms, one for ladies and the other for gentlemen', and a 'lofty, cool and well-lit gallery' where 'the best artists in the photographic line' were at work.

1 portrait in the collection

Dr Stella Cornelius AO OBE

Stella Cornelius AO OBE (1919–2010), businesswoman and peace activist, was born to Jewish parents in Sydney and grew up moving around New South Wales as her father, a draper and tailor, found work during the Depression.

1 portrait in the collection

The Honourable Chief Justice Susan Kiefel AC

The Hon Chief Justice Susan Kiefel AC

The Hon. Chief Justice Susan Kiefel AC (b. 1954) became Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia in 2017 and is the first woman to have held the role.

1 portrait in the collection

John Richard Tindale, 1841

Maurice Felton

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003

Mary Tindale, 1841

Maurice Felton

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003

Tribute

Bob Ellis

Magazine article, 2016

Bob Ellis (1942–2016) was a journalist, columnist, screenwriter, film director, playwright, speechwriter and critic.

Gary Heery

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

1 portrait in the collection

Judy Davis

Judy Davis (b. 1955), actor, director and two-time Oscar nominee, has won many acting accolades, including eight AACTA awards, three Emmy awards, two BAFTAs and two Golden Globes.

3 portraits in the collection

George Moore, 1957

Magazine article by Celina Fox, 2006

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003

Portrait of an English Woman c. 1532-5 (detail)

A new perspective

An exhibition devoted to Hans Holbein's English commissions shows the portraitist bringing across the Channel new technical developments in art - with a dazzling facility.

To Look Within

Self Portraits in Australia

Previous exhibition, 2004

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

The Right Honourable William Pitt

William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806) was Tory prime minister of Great Britain from 1783 to 1801, and of United Kingdom from 1804 to 1806.

1 portrait in the collection

Wendy Sharpe

Wendy Sharpe undertook art studies in Sydney between 1978 and 1984 and held her first solo exhibition at the Nicholson Street Gallery in 1985.

3 portraits in the collection

Annual Appeal

Listed by year

Sir Edward John Lees Hallstrom

Previous exhibition, 2008

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

Self Portrait (Textanude) by Arlene TextaQueen

Animated

Self Portraits Online

Animated is the National Portrait Gallery's first online exhibition.

Happy New Year

This year (in March) we will celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the formal establishment of the National Portrait Gallery. In the life of institutions, twenty years is not a long time.

Sir Frank Packer

Previous exhibition, 2005

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

2 portraits in the collection

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

Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet

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

1 portrait in the collection

The fat of the land

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

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

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

Robert Neill

Robert Neill arrived in Van Diemen’s Land from Edinburgh in 1820 with his free-settler parents and two siblings.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait Donors

Listed by year

Portrait of Sir Joseph Banks, c. 1814

Thomas Phillips

Purchased 2011

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.

Contact us

Our team

Find a contact at the National Portrait Gallery.

Darling Portrait Prize 2024

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

R. M. Williams AO CMG

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

1 portrait in the collection

2020 Annual Appeal

Previous exhibition, 2009

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

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.

Rick Amor

21 Portraits

Previous exhibition, 2014

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.

Sideshow Alley

Infamy, the macabre & the portrait

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.

Portrait 50 hits the shelves

1 September 2015

Archived media releases 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.

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

Vanity Fair Portraits

Photographs 1913-2008

Previous exhibition, 2009

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

James Donovan

James T Donovan (1861–1922), journalist, Catholic historian and amateur singer, was born into an Irish Catholic family in Sydney and grew up in Womerah Avenue, Darlinghurst.

1 portrait in the collection

Malcolm J. McCusker AC CVO KC

Barrister and philanthropist Malcolm James McCusker AC CVO KC was born in Subiaco, Western Australia in 1938.

1 portrait in the collection

Dora Byrne, 1951

Richard von Marientreu

Previous exhibition, 2010

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

Australian of the Year

Inspiring a Nation

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

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2020

Previous exhibition, 2020

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

Flash

Australian Athletes in Focus

Previous exhibition, 2006

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

Thom Roberts with Burt the Oscar Train 2017 and cushion cover

The Immersive World of Thom Roberts

12 April – 20 July 2025

Media

The first solo exhibition for this multidisciplinary, contemporary Australian artist, The Immersive World of Thom Roberts opens at the National Portrait Gallery on 12 April.

Emile Sherman

Previous exhibition, 2006

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

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.

Australians in Hollywood

Previous exhibition, 2003

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

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

In the thick of it

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2010

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.

Clifton Pugh

Australians

Previous exhibition, 2005

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.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2018

Previous exhibition, 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.

Elizabeth Roberts

Magazine article by Tony Curran, 2015

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

As long as you're here, 2013 by Tony Curran

Touchy touchy

Tony Curran ponders whether our phones can change the course of painting.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2018

8 March 2018

Images for media use will be available from 8 March 2018.

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

Olivia Newton-John, 1978 (printed 2017)

Gary Heery

Portraits in the Landscape

Purchased 2017

Open Air

Previous exhibition, 2008

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

Masters of Fare

Chefs, winemakers, providores

Previous exhibition, 2004

Masters of fare: chefs, winemakers, providores celebrates men and women who have championed the unique culinary characteristics and produce of Australia, enriching our lives with new ideas and new flavours over the past forty years.

Primed

Some Prime Ministers

Previous exhibition, 2019

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

The 1780s to the 1840s

Mo and beard timeline

Eighteenth century men differed from those of the preceding centuries in their preference for beardlessness.

Lillie Langtry, c. 1885

W & D Downey

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.

Uncommon Australians

The vision of Gordon and Marilyn Darling

Previous exhibition, 2015

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

The consolations of religion

A bushranger meets his maker, 6 January 1826

James McCabe provides proof that hanging wasn’t necessarily a fate reserved for the perpetrators of murder and other deeds of darkest hue.

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

Visiting the National Portrait Gallery

Visual Stories

Access support for a general visit to the Gallery.

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

Waterloo and Mrs. Moore

Archived media releases 2013

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.

Our only concern is the void, 2013 by Nik Lee, video: 12 minutes

Macquarie Digital Portraiture Award media information

28 August 2013

The National Portrait Gallery recently announced the finalists for the Macquarie Digital Portraiture Award 2013.

Lord Kitchener

Imperial strategist

Once central to military strategy and venerated in patriotic households, Lord Kitchener is now largely forgotten.

Finalists announced for National Photographic Portrait Prize

14 November 2018

Archived media releases 2019

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

The Textiles Scientist, 2018 by Kate Atkinson

Textiles Scientist Voted the People’s Favourite

27 March 2019

The black and white portrait of an elderly woman with sidelong glance and irreverent, contemplative smile has taken out the people’s choice award in this year’s National Photographic Portrait Prize.

Dovima with elephants, evening dress by Dior, Cirque d'Hiver, Paris, August 1955 by Richard Avedon

Richard Avedon People media information

8 August 2013

Archived media releases 2013

Press releases and images downloads for media.

Paul Kelly and The Portraits media information

18 June 2013

Archived media releases 2013

Paul Kelly & The Portraits presents a multifaceted image of the performer over the course of his career.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2024

Learning resources

Let’s take a look at the National Photographic Portrait Prize for 2024!

Sarah and Ann Jacob, c. 1866

Townsend Duryea

Magazine article by Diana Warnes, 2007

Purchased 2018

Cook in context

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

Not perspiring, but glowing.

The cultural history of radiance.

Angus Trumble explores the creative manifestations of radiance.

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

Cocky McGrath

Johnstone O'Shannessy & Co

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

Nicholas Chevalier, c. 1867

Portrait, albumen photograph on carte de visite

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

Expect the unexpected

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2019

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

Form and reality

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2008

A photographic portrait by Kerry Dundas captures the contemplative mind of visionary painter Godfrey Miller.

EL1 Head of Registration

Applications close midnight Sunday 6 July 2025

Employment opportunities

The Head of Registration is essential to the culture of collaboration that underpins the Gallery’s success. Reporting to the Director, Curatorial and Collection, the Head of Registration oversees the management of the NPG collection and registration requirements relating to the exhibition program.

Very fine and very like

Magazine article by Djon Mundine OAM, 2017

When did notions of very fine and very like become separate qualities of a portrait? And what happens to 'very like' in the age of photographic portraiture?

Big shots

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

Announcing... Pub Rock

11 August 2020

Archived media releases 2020

An exhibition that celebrates the people, places and sounds of Australian pub rock and its enduring impact on the nation’s identity, opens at the National Portrait Gallery on 5 September, 2020.

2022 Annual Appeal

Magazine article by Kim Sajet, 2018

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 Obama effect

Kim Sajet reflects on two portraits with a power that extends beyond gallery walls.

Portrait of Kang Sehwang, 1783 by Yi Myeonggi

The artist, the scholar and the gentleman

Magazine article by Kwon Hyeeun, 2019

Kwon Hyeeun introduces Korean portraits of Kang Sehwang, and five generations of the Kang family.

The Bath Butterfly

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

Catholic clergymen from the Diocese of Adelaide

Catholic clergymen from the Diocese of Adelaide, c. 1862

Stephen Edward Nixon

Magazine article by Inga Walton, 2020

Purchased 2018

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

Mother’s muse

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

In bloom

Magazine article by Susi Muddiman, 2017

Susi Muddiman delights in Michael Zavros’ stunning portrait of the honourable Dame Quentin Bryce AD CVO.

Janet Dawson

Explore The Popular Pet Show

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

Nicholas Harding

Explore The Popular Pet Show

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

The God-shaped hole

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2010

Exploring the photographs of Martin Schoeller, Michael Desmond delves into the uneasy pact that exists between celebrity and the camera.

Relaxed mornings

Visual Stories

Access support for a visiting the Gallery before the general 10:00am opening time.

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.

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

30 November 2023

Archived media releases 2023

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

Queen Victoria, 1901

The Illustrated London News after Jean Joseph Benjamin-Constant

Portrait, photogravure on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Noel McKenna

Explore The Popular Pet Show

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

Giving and getting

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2006

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.

Icons and imagery

Magazine article by Alison Weir, 2011

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

Poets' Portraits

Magazine article by Angus Trumble, 2019

The Portrait Gallery's paintings of two poets, Les Murray and Peter Porter, demonstrate two very different artists' responses to the challenge of representing more than usually sensitive and imaginative men.

Karl Robert, Count Nesselrode, 1818 by Sir Thomas Lawrence

The Lawrence lustre

Angus Trumble salutes the glorious portraiture of Sir Thomas Lawrence.

Embodiment of resistance

Magazine article by Behrouz Boochani, 2024

Kurdish-Iranian writer and filmmaker Behrouz Boochani on his portrait by Hoda Afshar, recently acquired by the National Portrait Gallery.

The Stories Beneath

The Alcoa World Alumina Australia gift.

So Fine

17 May 2018

Magazine article by John Zubrzycki, 2016

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

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

Risky business

John Zubrzycki lauds the characters of the Australian escapology trade.

Portrait of William Manning, c.1821 by Henry Bone

Of beef in burgundy

Magazine article by Angus Trumble, 2017

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

Eileen Dunne in The Hospital for Sick Children, 1940

The incomparable Beaton

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

Goods and chattels

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2019

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.

Study for Aunty Mary King, 2010 by Mathew Lynn

The animating signature

Joanna Gilmore delights in the affecting drawings of Mathew Lynn.

The selfie stick

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.

So Fine

28 June 2018

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2009

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

In the round

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

Grateful admiration and brotherly love

Archived media releases 2021

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.

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

Announcing Shakespeare to Winehouse

24 November 2021

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

Four from the 30s

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2003

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

Poet of the Fleeting Moment

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2004

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

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.

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.

Nicholas Harding: 28 Portraits

Exhibition essay

Sarah Engledow looks at three decades of Nicholas Harding's portraiture.

Installation of ‘Face to Face: The New Normal’ at Wagga Wagga Regional Gallery, 2021 Vic McEwan

Facing the feeling

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2016

Penelope Grist explores the interplay between medicine and portraiture in Vic McEwan’s Face to Face: The New Normal.

Apollo's breath

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

Mugshots

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2006

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

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.

Where the wild things are

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2009

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

Everybody's heard about the bird

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2008

Two professionals; Australian surfer Layne Beachley and photographer Petrina Hicks, combine their strengths to achieve a remarkable portrait.

You beauty

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

Donated duo

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2011

Dr Sarah Engledow writes about the gift of two striking paintings by the Australian artist Ken Done AM.

In a good paddock

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.

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

Portraiture in a Bleak House

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

The play’s the thing

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2011

Penelope Grist charts an immersive path through Stuart Spence’s photography.

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

Sea legged frogs

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

More cash than dash

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2011

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

Indexing, the art of

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, 2020

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

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

Love in the extreme

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

Hyperversity

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2006

Dr Sarah Engledow writes about the larger-than-life Australian performance artist, Leigh Bowery.

Christian Waller with Baldur, Undine and Siren at Fairy Hills, 1932 by Napier Waller

Enigma

Magazine article by Dr Grace Blakeley-Carroll, 2015

Grace Carroll contemplates the curious case of Christian Waller.

Oz and beyond

Magazine article by Diana Warnes, 2007

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

No Laughing Matter

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2002

The biographical exhibition of Barry Humphries was the first display of its kind at the National Portrait Gallery.

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

Cool cool world

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2022

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

The personal and the historical

Magazine article by Jane Kinsman, 2007

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

Themes and variations (Annelies) A13, 1946

Listening to form

National Gallery of Australia curator Jane Kinsman discusses the portraiture of Henri Matisse.

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

Birds of a feather

Magazine article by Annette Twyman, 2021

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

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

All the way with K of K

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2016

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

Patrick White at Centennial Park, 1979–1980

Listomania

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2013

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.

Finest quality

Magazine article by Mette Skougaard and Thomas Lyngby, 2018

Joanna Gilmour explores the life of Chinese-Australian businessman and philanthropist Quong Tart.

Dane reign

Mette Skougaard and Thomas Lyngby bring eloquent context to Ralph Heimans’ portraits of Crown Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark.

The stately lotus

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

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.

Fine and dandy

Magazine article by Jane Raffan, 2013

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.

All dressed up

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

Private virtues public lives

Magazine article by Karl James, 2016

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

Portrait of Private Edward Lello 1915 by Darge Photographic Company

Final frame

Karl James reflects on soldier portraiture during the Great War.

Human encounters

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2023

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

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.

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

Magazine article by Inga Walton, 2022

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.

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.

Anangu landscape learning

Magazine article by Inga Walton, 2019

Angus' initial perception of Uluru shifts, as he comes to see it as central to the entire order of Anangu life.

Lady Jane Grey, c.1590-1600 (also known as The ‘Streatham’ portrait) Artist unknown

The Royal she

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

A sketch for some portraits

Magazine article by Judith Pugh, 2005

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

Emblems of beauty

Magazine article by Keith Christiansen, 2012

Keith Christiansen introduces the exhibition The Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

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.

Friends and Acquaintances

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2013

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

Home truths

Despite once expressing a limited interest in the self portrait, the idea of it has figured strongly in much of Tracey Moffatt's work and has done so in some of her most distinctive and compelling images.

Some prime ministers

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2007

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

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

The activist A-list

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.

Home and away

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2013

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

Generous Janice

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

Cultural kaleidoscope

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2006

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

Trevor Jamieson, 2016 by Brett Canet-Gibson

The more things change...

NPPP 2017 exhibition essay

The vision of Gordon and Marilyn Darling

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

Uncommon Australians

Magazine article by Alexandra Roginski, 2019

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

Madame Sibly, Phrenologist and Mesmerist

Sibly irresistible

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

Mick Jagger, Madonna and Tony Curtis, 1997

The Vanity model

Magazine article by David Friend, 2009

Vanity Fair Editor David Friend describes how the rebirth of the magazine sated our desire for access into the lives of celebrities and set the standard for the new era of portrait photography.

NPPP 2016 exhibition essay

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2016

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

Waterfall in Australia, c. 1830 by Augustus Earle

Augustus serendipitous

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

History

About us

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

The Long Awaited, 2008 by Patricia Piccinini

In the flesh

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2015

An exhibition of humanness in ten themes by Penelope Grist.

20/20 launch speech

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2015

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

Portrait of Thea Proctor, 1905 by George Lambert

The real Thea

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

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.

Through thick and thin

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2017

Sarah Engledow likes the manifold mediums of Nicholas Harding’s portraiture.

Thrown together

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

Rick Amor: 21 Portraits