Skip to main content
Menu

The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

Ned Kelly death mask

Getting a head

Magazine article by Alexandra Roginski, 2015

Alexandra Roginski gets a feel for phrenology’s fundamentals.

Madame Sibly, Phrenologist and Mesmerist

Sibly irresistible

Magazine article by Alexandra Roginski, 2019

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

Princess Alexandra of Denmark (later Queen Alexandra)
Princess Alexandra of Denmark (later Queen Alexandra)
Princess Alexandra of Denmark (later Queen Alexandra)

Princess Alexandra of Denmark (later Queen Alexandra), c. 1862

an unknown artist after Georg Emil Hansen
Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite on card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2020

image not online

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

an unknown artist
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

Phrenology video: 3 minutes 25 seconds

Ned Kelly and death masks

'Judge a person by their cover'
Portrait story

Alexandra Roginski explains the history behind the pseudo-science of phrenology.

Alexandra Schepisi, 2011 by Anita Beaney

Alexandra Schepisi, 2011

by Anita Beaney
Image
Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (future Queen Elizabeth II)
Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (future Queen Elizabeth II)
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

Lillie Langtry

Lovely Lillie and Dirty Bertie

Lust

Royal romps: illicit liaisons

Phrenology video: 3 minutes 25 seconds

Judge a person by their cover

Death masks and phrenology
General content

Alexandra Roginski explains the history behind the pseudo-science of phrenology, popular in the nineteenth century.

Portrait 61

Summer 2018/19
Magazine

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

Losing Faith, 2004 by Alexandra Cody

Headspace 5

Crystal Gazing
Previous exhibition, 2004

Crystal Gazing: Headspace V, the fifth in the National Portrait Gallery's program of secondary student portrait exhibitions, invites students from Canberra and the surrounding regions to explore the possibilities of portraiture

Rolf de Heer, Adelaide, SA
Rolf de Heer, Adelaide, SA
Rolf de Heer, Adelaide, SA

Rolf de Heer, Adelaide, SA, 2004

John Elliott
Portrait, type C photograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

© National Portrait Gallery 2024
King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia

Phone +61 2 6102 7000
ABN: 54 74 277 1196

The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

This website comprises and contains copyrighted materials and works. Copyright in all materials and/or works comprising or contained within this website remains with the National Portrait Gallery and other copyright owners as specified.

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

The National Portrait Gallery is an Australian Government Agency