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More cash than dash

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

Seduce and Destroy

Magda Keaney explores the symbolism in eX de Medici's portrait of Midnight Oil.

The bright-eyed Mariner

Hope for kindness

Sarah Engledow arrives at the junction of fate and hope in Sarah Ball’s poignant Immigrants series.

No shirt, no service

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

A quiet moment

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

Little women

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

Crikey!

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

No Laughing Matter

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

Around the grounds

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

Extremely generous and incredibly close

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

Spikes: then and now

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

Material culture

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

Human encounters

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

Blue Collar Icon

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

Profile of a marriage

Dr Sarah Engledow explores the lives of Sir George Grey and his wife Eliza, the subjects of a pair of wax medallions in the National Portrait Gallery's collection.