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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.

Search / george coppin

Ned Kelly death mask

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.

Gustavus Brooke

Gustavus Brooke

Gustavus Brooke

Gustavus Brooke, c. 1865

Portrait, albumen silver carte de visite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

George Selth Coppin

George Selth Coppin

George Selth Coppin

George Selth Coppin, c. 1863

an unknown artist

Portrait, albumen silver carte de visite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Hattie Shepparde

Hattie Shepparde

Hattie Shepparde

Hattie Shepparde, 1872

Bardwell's Royal Studio

Portrait, carte de visite photograph

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

Portrait of George Selth Coppin

The Multifarious Career of George Selth Coppin

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2004

George Selth Coppin (1819-1906) comedian, impresario and entrepreneur, was a driving force of the early Australian theatre.

Portrait of George Selth Coppin

Portrait of George Selth Coppin

Portrait of George Selth Coppin

Portrait of George Selth Coppin, c. 1895-1899

Portrait, oil on cedar panel

Purchased with funds provided by Mary Isabel Murphy 2004

Bungaree, late chief of the Broken Bay tribe, Sydney

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

Portrait of George Selth Coppin

George Selth Coppin

George Coppin (1819-1906), comedian, entrepreneur and politician, cut his teeth in the world of the English itinerant theatre.

2 portraits in the collection

Gustavus Brooke

Gustavus Brooke

Gustavus Vaughan Brooke (1818-1866), actor, was a seasoned theatre performer by his early teens; at fourteen, he played Richard III.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Kean

Charles Kean

Charles Kean (1811-1868), actor, threw in his Eton education when his mother was deserted by his penniless father, the tragedian Edmund Kean.

1 portrait in the collection

Julia Matthews

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

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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