© National Portrait Gallery 2025
King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
Phone +61 2 6102 7000
ABN: 54 74 277 1196
Mr and Mrs Horace Keats in the "Christopher Brennan Cycle", 1945
Dora Toovey
Portrait, oil on canvas
Gift of Anne and Brennan Keats 2009
Heartfelt
Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2009
The portrait of Janet and Horace Keats with the spirit of the poet Christopher Brennan is brought to life by artist Dora Toovey.
Horace Keats
Biography
Horace Keats (1895-1945) came to Australia from his native England in 1915 as accompanist to vaudeville performer Nella Webb.
1 portrait in the collection
Horace S. Wills
Biography
Emily Spencer Wills (1842–1925), Cedric Spencer Wills (1844–1914), Horace Spencer Wills (1847–1928), and Egbert Spencer Wills (1849–1931) the second, third, fourth, and fifth children of Horatio Wills and his wife Elizabeth, were all born at Lexington, spending their childhoods there and at Bellevue, the property acquired by Horatio Wills near Geelong in 1852.
1 portrait in the collection
Janet Keats
Biography
Janet le Brun Brown (Keats) (1900-1985), soprano, was born on her family's property, Riggsdale, near Goulburn, but on account of frailty she was sent to live with her grandparents in Inverell, Moree and Dungog before going to boarding school in the Blue Mountains and Gosford.
1 portrait in the collection
Horace Spencer Wills and Cedric Spencer Wills, c. 1859
an unknown artist
Portrait, 1/2 plate ambrotype with applied colour in a double elliptical brass matt inside a leather case (without lid)
Gift of T S Wills Cooke 2014. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Gordon Watson AM
Biography
Gordon Watson AM (1921-1999), pianist and teacher, taught at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music from 1964 to 1986 and was head of its keyboard department when he retired.
1 portrait in the collection
Emily S. Wills
Biography
Emily Spencer Wills (1842–1925), Cedric Spencer Wills (1844–1914), Horace Spencer Wills (1847–1928), and Egbert Spencer Wills (1849–1931) the second, third, fourth, and fifth children of Horatio Wills and his wife Elizabeth, were all born at Lexington, spending their childhoods there and at Bellevue, the property acquired by Horatio Wills near Geelong in 1852.
1 portrait in the collection
Egbert S. Wills
Biography
Emily Spencer Wills (1842–1925), Cedric Spencer Wills (1844–1914), Horace Spencer Wills (1847–1928), and Egbert Spencer Wills (1849–1931) the second, third, fourth, and fifth children of Horatio Wills and his wife Elizabeth, were all born at Lexington, spending their childhoods there and at Bellevue, the property acquired by Horatio Wills near Geelong in 1852.
1 portrait in the collection
Cedric S. Wills
Biography
Emily Spencer Wills (1842–1925), Cedric Spencer Wills (1844–1914), Horace Spencer Wills (1847–1928), and Egbert Spencer Wills (1849–1931) the second, third, fourth, and fifth children of Horatio Wills and his wife Elizabeth, were all born at Lexington, spending their childhoods there and at Bellevue, the property acquired by Horatio Wills near Geelong in 1852.
1 portrait in the collection
Sir Joseph Banks, 1811
William Daniell after George Dance
Portrait, soft ground etching on paper
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014
Sir Joseph Banks, Bt
Sir Joshua Reynolds
Image
Poets' Portraits
Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2005
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.
Why do painted portraits still matter?
Magazine article by Sandy Nairne, 2006
Lecture by Sandy Nairne, Director, National Portrait Gallery, London, given at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra on 28 April 2006.
Time and light
In Gallery Seven
Previous exhibition, 2023
This sample of 56 photographs takes in some of the smallest photographs we own and some of the largest, some of the earliest and some of the most recent, as well as multiple photographic processes from daguerreotypes to digital media.
Secure the shadow ere the substance fade
Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2015
The tragic tale of Tom Wills, the ‘inventor’ of Australian Rules Football.