About Face

A papal pet encounter

by Angus Trumble, 31 October 2016

In honour of the launch of the Popular Pet Show, Angus recalls a diplomatic incident with an over-excited golden retriever.

Crème Valaze

From lanolin to Balenciaga

by Angus Trumble, 21 October 2016

Helena Rubinstein (1872‒1965) was the first self-made millionairess of modern times, and created the first publicly-listed global cosmetics corporation. 

Friends

by Dr Christopher Chapman, 10 October 2016

Warwick Baker’s photos of his friends are intimate. They hold a stillness that allows their subjects to be at ease.

Joyful sadness

by Dr Christopher Chapman, 1 October 2016

Rozalind Drummond’s photographs in the exhibition Tough and tender let us bring our imagination to the act of looking.

Empirical art

by Angus Trumble, 30 September 2016

Several years ago I came across this curious painting on the racks in a distant, dusty corner of the store room in the basement of the Johannesburg Art Gallery in South Africa. Since then the mystery surrounding it has never been far from my mind. 

Tribute: Mary Isabel Murphy

by Angus Trumble, 28 September 2016

The Chairman, Board, Director and all the staff of the National Portrait Gallery mourn the loss of our Benefactor, Mary Isabel Murphy.

Portrait dendrochronology

by Angus Trumble, 26 August 2016

Angus's latest Trumbology is accompanied by the following caveat: 'This one is reeeeeeally geeky.'

Seeing stars

Celebrating Science Week

by Joanna Gilmour, 16 August 2016

It has been suggested that Sir Thomas Brisbane’s interest in the New South Wales governorship was as attributable to his passion for astronomy as to the desirability of the position as a prestigious career move.

Gotta catch 'em all

by Angus Trumble, 28 July 2016

Angus Trumble grabs his life jacket and rides the Pokémon GO tsunami.

Best buds

by Dr Christopher Chapman, 15 July 2016

It’s important to have a best bud when you’re growing up. For many boys the transition from boyhood through adolescence is defined by wanting to fit in. 

The mystery of Enoch Arden

by Angus Trumble, 4 July 2016

Tennyson's Enoch Arden was inspired by a story that Thomas Woolner passed on to him – but whose story and of whom?

Danger boy

by Dr Christopher Chapman, 27 June 2016

I didn’t ever meet the American artist Chris Burden but about 20 years ago I wrote to him. I was after the loan of some photographic prints of his most famous performance: he had arranged for a friend to fire a bullet so it would graze his arm.