Search / margaret court

The Rev. Margaret Court AC MBE (b. 1942) has won more major tennis championships than any other player, having acquired 62 Grand Slam titles between 1960 and 1975.

1 portrait in the collection

Margaret Court and Evonne Goolagong, c. 1971

Ern McQuillan OAM

Portrait, oil on composition board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003

Sir Charles Court and Richard Court, 2006-2007

Mary Moore

Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2006

Janet Holmes a Court AC

Portrait, offset lithograph on mountboard/card

Janet Holmes à Court AC (b. 1943), businesswoman and philanthropist, graduated in science and worked as a teacher before marrying young Perth lawyer Robert Holmes à Court in 1966.

1 portrait in the collection

Robert Holmes a Court, c. 1984

Joe Greenberg

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001

Janet Holmes á Court, 2001 (printed 2011)

Lorrie Graham

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Margaret Robertson

Margaret Robertson (née Whyte, 1811–1866) was the daughter of settlers George and Jessie Whyte, who emigrated to Van Diemen’s Land from Scotland in 1832.

4 portraits in the collection

Margaret Fulton OAM

Margaret Fulton (1925-2019), a major figure in developing Australia's appreciation of food, was instrumental in teaching generations of people to cook.

1 portrait in the collection

Margaret Olley AC

Margaret Olley AC (1923-2011), painter, studied art at East Sydney Technical College and the Grande Chaumière in Paris.

6 portraits in the collection

Margaret Preston

Margaret Preston (1875-1963) trained at the NGV School and the Adelaide School of Design before leasing a studio and beginning to teach in Adelaide.

1 portrait in the collection

Self portrait as Sarah Wisse, Transported

Margaret Woodward

Margaret Woodward (b. 1938), painter, grew up in Sydney where she gained a scholarship to study art at the NAS.

3 portraits in the collection

Margaret Whitlam AO

Margaret Whitlam AO (1919-2012), social worker and writer, was a champion swimmer as a schoolgirl.

2 portraits in the collection

Margaret Michaelis

Margaret Michaelis, photographer, was born Margarethe Gross, of Polish Jewish parents at Dzieditz, near Bielsko.

2 portraits in the collection

Margaret Lyttle

Margaret Lyttle took over Australia's oldest alternative school, Preshil (in Melbourne), when her aunt Greta Lyttle died in 1944, continuing to guide the school according to her aunt's principle that learning is a process of human mutuality.

1 portrait in the collection

Margaret Anderson GM

Margaret Anderson GM (1915–1995) served with the Australian Army Nursing Service during the Second World War in Singapore.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait of Professors Margaret Gardner and Glyn Davis

Margaret Gardner AC

Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Margaret Gardner AC is the 30th Governor of Victoria.

1 portrait in the collection

Margaret Fink AO

Margaret Fink AO (b. 1933), film producer, was a key figure in the renaissance of Australian cinema in the 1970s.

2 portraits in the collection

Margaret Olley

In their own words

Recorded 1963

Soft and Sophia, 2015

by Margaret Paley

Self portrait with Bottlebrush, 1991

Margaret Olley AC

Portrait, oil on board

Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC and the Sid and Fiona Myer Family Foundation 2021

Self portrait as Sarah Wisse, Transported, 1996

Margaret Woodward

Gift of the Karmel family in memory of Lena and Peter Karmel 2018. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Julia Margaret Cameron

Julia Margaret Cameron was of the most important photographers of the nineteenth century.

1 portrait in the collection

Professor Margaret Seares AO

Portrait, encaustic on canvas

Margaret Seares AO (b. 1948), chair of the Perth International Arts Festival from 2012 to 2016 and senior deputy vice chancellor at the University of Western Australia from 2004 to 2008, began her academic career specialising in keyboard music of the eighteenth century.

1 portrait in the collection

(Margaret Whitlam) by the strength of her skin

(Margaret Whitlam) by the strength of her skin, 1998

Kim Spooner

Gift of the artist 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Dame Margaret Scott AC DBE

Dame Margaret Scott AC DBE (1922-2019) ballerina and teacher, was scarred by her education in a Johannesburg convent boarding school and left her home on a Swaziland farm in 1939.

1 portrait in the collection

Margaret Lyttle, 2000

Eva Collins

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003

Margaret Robertson, c. 1852

Portrait, ambrotype, hand coloured

Gift of Fiona Turner (née Robertson) and John Robertson 2011. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Margaret Fulton, 1980 (printed 2002)

Gift of the artist 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Portrait of Margaret Olley in her Paddington studio, 2011

by John McRae

Margaret Olley, 1995

Adam Knott

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of The Hammond Care Group 1999

Margaret Olley, 1991

Portrait, pencil on paper

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Head study for portrait of Margaret Olley

Head study for portrait of Margaret Olley, 1994

Jeffrey Smart AO

Bequest of Nick Enright AM 2004

Margaret Whitlam, 2005

Sahlan Hayes

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2006

Margaret Preston, c. 1930

Harold Cazneaux

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM and Barbara Corrigan 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Margaret Olley, 1998

Gift of the artist 2003. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Portrait of Jawoyn Elder, Margaret Katherine

Portrait of Jawoyn Elder, Margaret Katherine, 2015

John Gollings

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite

Gift of the artist 2017. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Margaret Robertson, c. 1863

Batchelder & O'Neill

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Malcolm Robertson in memory of William Thomas Robertson 2018
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Margaret Anderson, 1942

Napier Waller CMG OBE

Portrait, pastel on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999

Margaret Dodd, 2002

Portrait, oil and hand-stitching with diamantes on canvas

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Margaret Fink, 1989

Kerrie Lester

Gift of the artist 1999. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Margaret Wilson, 1990

Anne Zahalka

Portrait, type C Duraflex print on paper

Gift of Leo Christie 2003. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Margaret Simons, 2012

Dave Tacon

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Margaret Coen, 1991

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Margaret Olley, 1991 (printed 2012)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Greg Weight 2012

Margaret Robertson, c. 1855

Portrait, daguerreotype, hand coloured

Gift of Fiona Turner (née Robertson) and John Robertson 2011. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Margaret Woodward, 1992

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Margaret Woodward, 1985

Magazine article by Michelle Fracaro, 2005

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

The line of fire

Michelle Fracaro examines the life of World War II nurse Margaret Anderson, whose portrait by Napier Waller is in the NPG collection.

Arthur Murch, 1945

Margaret Michaelis

Portrait, pen and ink, brush and ink and watercolour on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Dame Margaret Scott, 1949

Kenneth Rowell AM

Gift of Professor Derek Denton AC and Dame Margaret Scott AC 2014. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Margaret Seares, 2018

Cherry Hood

Portrait, watercolour on paper

Commissioned with funds provided by the Sid and Fiona Myer Family Foundation 2018

Portrait of Professors Margaret Gardner and Glyn Davis, 2017

Jacqueline Mitelman

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on paper

Commissioned with funds provided by Jim and Barbara Higgins, Sir Roderick Carnegie AC, Rupert Myer AO and Annabel Myer, Louise and Martyn Myer Foundation, Peter and Ruth McMullin, Diana Carlton, Professor Derek Denton AC, Harold Mitchell AC, Peter Jopling AM KC, Andrew and Liz Mackenzie, Patricia Patten, Tamie Fraser AO, Bruce Parncutt and Robin Campbell, Lauraine Diggins, Steven Skala AO and Lousje Skala 2017

Edward John Eyre, 1867

Julia Margaret Cameron

Presented by Sir Roy Strong and the late Dr Julia Trevelyan Oman in memory of their friendship with Gordon Darling and Marilyn Darling 2006

The Honourable Margaret Lusink AM, 2019

Pamela Joyce, Australian Tapestry Workshop

Portrait, wool and cotton tapestry

Gift of The Honourable Margaret Lusink AM 2021

Pamela Joyce, Australian Tapestry Workshop

Moving in creative circles

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2008

Harold Cazneaux's portraits of influential Sydneysiders included Margaret Preston and Ethel Turner, both important figures in the development of ideas about Australian identity and culture.

Modern Australian Women

Magazine article by Gillian Raymond, 2005

Close contemporaries, Thea Proctor, Margaret Preston and Grace Cossington Smith were frequently sources of inspiration and irritation to each other.

Arthur and Ria Murch, 1945

Margaret Michaelis

Portrait drawings from colonial Australia

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Elegance in exile

Previous exhibition, 2012

Elegance in exile is an exhibition surveying the work of Richard Read senior, Thomas Bock, Thomas Griffiths Wainewright and Charles Rodius: four artists who, though exiled to Australia as convicts, created many of the most significant and elegant portraits of the colonial period.

Margaret Fink, 1975

Magazine article by Malcolm Robertson, 2011

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Miss Robertson of Colac (Dolly), 1885-86

Brothers on farms

Malcolm Robertson tells the family history of one of Australia's earliest patrons of the arts, his Scottish born great great great grandfather, William Robertson.

Album of cartes de visite and cabinet cards compiled by William St Leonards Robertson, 1860s-c. 1900

Various

Portrait, 24 page brown leather bound album of 119 cartes de visite and 16 cabinet card photographs

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Malcolm Robertson in memory of William Thomas Robertson 2018
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

First High Court of Australia, c. 1903

Portrait, albumen silver photograph

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Henry Louis Bertrand, ca. 1865 photographed by the Milligan Brothers. Collection of the State Library of NSW

A passion eating into your vitals

The ‘Mad Dentist of Wynyard Square’ in court, 18 December 1865

The salacious and sordid details of Henry Kinder’s death transfixed Sydneysiders with a case combining murder with seduction, mesmerism, blackmail and poisoning.

Margaret Seares, 2018

by Cherry Hood

Tom Durkin, The Weekly Times

Commissioned with funds provided by the Sid and Fiona Myer Family Foundation 2018

Jane Windeyer (1865–1950) was the second eldest daughter of politician and judge Sir William Charles Windeyer (1834–1897) and his wife, Mary (née Bolton, 1837–1912), a leading campaigner for women’s rights.

2 portraits in the collection

A County Court Judge "Sober as a Judge" [Judge Pohlman], 1874

Portrait, carte de visite photograph

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

Jane Windeyer, n.d.

Madame Praeger

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Windeyer family 2012

Dame Bridget Margaret Ogilvie, 1999 (printed 2022)

Polly Borland

Purchased 2022

Hugs on hold

Sandy Scheltema

Professor Derek Freeman

Derek Freeman (1916–2001) was an anthropologist. Born in New Zealand, he gained his doctorate from Cambridge before moving to Canberra in 1955 to work at the Australian National University.

1 portrait in the collection

Robert W. Pohlman

Robert Williams Pohlman (1811–1877), judge, arrived in Melbourne in 1840 and with his brother acquired a sheep station, Darlington (later Glenhope), near Kyneton.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir William Dobell OBE

Sir William Dobell (1899–1970), painter, studied art and was apprentice to an architect in Sydney before leaving Australia for Europe in 1929.

10 portraits in the collection

Sir William Deane AC KBE KC

Sir William Deane AC KBE KC (b. 1931), High Court judge, was governor-general of Australia from early 1996 to mid-2001.

1 portrait in the collection

The Honourable Chief Justice Susan Kiefel AC

The Hon Chief Justice Susan Kiefel AC

The Hon. Chief Justice Susan Kiefel AC (b. 1954) became Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia in 2017 and is the first woman to have held the role.

1 portrait in the collection

The Hon. Susan Crennan AC KC

The Hon. Susan Crennan AC KC (b. 1945) is a leading barrister and former High Court judge.

1 portrait in the collection

Richard Edward O'Connor

Richard Edward O'Connor (1851-1912), barrister and judge, was raised and educated in Sydney.

1 portrait in the collection

The Hon. Alex Chernov AC QC, 2019

Anne Middleton

Eddie Mabo

Koiki (Eddie) Mabo (1937-1992) was born and lived in the Torres Strait until 1959 when he moved to the mainland.

1 portrait in the collection

The Honourable Chief Justice Susan Kiefel AC, 2018

Yvonne East

Portrait, oil on linen

Gift of the artist 2019 acknowledging Herbert Smith Freehills for supporting the creation of the portrait

Lionel Murphy QC

Lionel Murphy QC (1922-1986), High Court judge and Labor politician, grew up in Sydney, studied science and law at Sydney University, was admitted to the Bar in 1947, and became a QC in 1960.

1 portrait in the collection

The Hon. Alex Chernov AC KC, 2019

Anne Middleton

Portrait, oil on linen

Gift of twenty members of the Victorian Bar 2020

Mary Moore

Mary Moore (b. 1957) is a West Australian portrait artist. She began formal art training in Claremont at the age of fifteen, later attending the Western Australian Institute of Technology and Royal College of Art, London.

4 portraits in the collection

The Hon. Justice Michael Kirby AC CMG

Portrait, single channel moving image, colour, sound, 2 minutes, 47 seconds

The Hon. Justice Michael Kirby AC CMG (b. 1939) was a Justice of the High Court of Australia from 1996 to 2009.

16 portraits in the collection

Sir William Deane 2008, 2008

Merilyn Fairskye

Purchased 2011

Malcolm McCusker AC CVO KC, 2022

Vincent Fantauzzo

September - November 2006

Gift of Nigel Satterley AM and Denise Satterley 2022

Portrait 21

Magazine

This issue of Portrait Magazine features Margaret Cameron, the 'Truth and Likeness' exhibition, Reg Mombassa, Patrick White, George Foxhill and more.

Radical Restraint
Justice Michael Kirby, 1998

Ralph Heimans AM

Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001

Georgie Swift

Georgie Swift (1920-2008), journalist, publicist and chatelaine, was born Georgette Marie Hiro Matsui to a French-born mother and Japanese father in Sydney after the First World War.

1 portrait in the collection

Evonne Goolagong, 1973

Ern McQuillan OAM

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2004

Portrait of Lady Eyre Williams (Jessie Gibbon)

Lady Jessie Eyre Williams

Jessie, Lady Eyre Williams (neé Gibbon, 1815-1903), colonial spouse, was the daughter of an Aberdeenshire clergyman.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait of Lady Eyre Williams (Jessie Gibbon), 1833

Claude-Marie Dubufe

Purchased 2009

Portrait of Susan Crennan, 2017

Lewis Miller

Portrait, oil on linen

Gift of the Hon. Susan Crennan AC KC 2018. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Location

Plan your visit

We’re on King Edward Terrace in front of the High Court and next to the National Gallery of Australia. We are open every day of the year from 10am to 5pm, except 25 December.

Alan Goldberg AO QC

Anthonis Mor (Antonio Moro)

Alan Goldberg AO QC (1940-2016), Federal Court judge, was born into a pioneering Jewish Melbourne family and graduated from the University of Melbourne law school in the early 1960s.

1 portrait in the collection

Wik vs Queensland

Screening

Event, Sunday 2 June

This landmark feature documentary tracks the lead up to the 1996 High Court decision to grant native title to the Wik Peoples of Cape York, and the demonisation that followed at the hands of politicians and media.

Sir Henry Lee

Jessie Robertson

Jessie Robertson (1835–1849) was the eldest of the seven children of pastoralist and businessman, William Robertson (1798–1874), and his wife Margaret (née Whyte, 1811–1866).

1 portrait in the collection

David Strachan

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint on canvas

David Strachan (1919–1970), painter and printmaker, was educated at Geelong Grammar School and then studied art at the Slade School in London.

2 portraits in the collection

Eddie Mabo (after Mike Kelley's 'Booth's Puddle' 1985, from Plato's Cave, Rothko's Chapel, Lincoln's profile) No.3, 1996

John Citizen

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 1999

John McRae

NPPP 2012 learning resource

An interview with the photographer.

Evonne Goolagong (Cawley) AC MBE

Portrait, oil on primed masonite

Evonne Goolagong Cawley AC MBE (b. 1951), Wiradjuri tennis champion, was the number one women's tennis player in the world in 1971 and 1976.

3 portraits in the collection

Self portrait at 85, 1990

Joshua Smith

Gift of the late May Ralph 2019

Sir Percy Spender, 1981

Alex Kolozsy

Portrait, cold cast bronze

Gift of the artist and the New South Wales division of the Liberal Party of Australia 2004

Alan Goldberg, 2014

Jacqueline Mitelman

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Wayne Williams 2015

William Hodges

Portrait, pencil and crayon on paper

William Hodges (1744-1797) trained from an early age at William Shipley's drawing school at Castle Court in the Strand, and was afterward apprenticed to a landscape painter.

3 portraits in the collection

Study "Radical Restraint: A Portrait of Michael Kirby", 1998

Ralph Heimans AM

Gift of the artist 2001

Sir Edward E. Williams

Sir Edward Eyre Williams (1813–1880), judge and barrister, arrived in Port Phillip in 1842 having been admitted to the Bar in London nine years earlier.

1 portrait in the collection

Peter, Silverton, NSW, 2012

by Krystal Seigerman

Portrait, pencil and pastel on paper

Portrait of Professor Derek Freeman, 1996

Ralph Heimans AM

Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001

The Rt. Hon Sir Edmund Barton GCMG PC KC

Portrait, pastel on paper

Sir Edmund Barton GCMG PC KC (1849-1920), Australia’s first prime minister, was the youngest of nine children of a well-educated woman.

6 portraits in the collection

Portrait of Dame Roma Mitchell, 1940s

Geoffrey Mainwaring

Gift of friends of Dame Roma Mitchell 2018

William St Leonards Robertson, c. 1865

Portrait, ambrotype, hand coloured

Gift of Fiona Turner (née Robertson) and John Robertson 2011. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Nancy Borlase and Laurie Short, 1991

Jenny Sages

Gift of the Margaret Olley Art Trust 1998

William Charles Windeyer, c. 1857

In Galleries Seven, Eight and Nine

Portrait, daguerreotype

Gift of the Windeyer family 2009

Helena Rubinstein in a red brocade Balenciaga gown

Women Make History

Previous exhibition, 2021

Well behaved women seldom make history, as the saying goes, and the National Portrait Gallery, consequently, is full of awesome Australian women who refused to conform to narrow ideas about their place and their worth.

Sketch for portrait of Justin O'Brien, 1980

Bryan Westwood

Portrait, oil with fibre-tipped pen underdrawing on composition board

Gift of the Margaret Olley Art Trust 2002

Sir William Dargie

A Ninetieth Birthday Tribute

Previous exhibition, 2002

As a tribute to Sir William Dargie's singular contribution to Australian art and cultural institutions, and on the occasion of his birthday, The Australian War Memorial, Parliament House and the National Portrait Gallery will mount exhibitions of his work between May and October

HV (Doc) Evatt, 1935

Arnold Shore

Gift of Elizabeth Evatt and Penelope Seidler 1998. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

2012-13 Acquisition Fund

The Circle of Friends Acquisition Fund for 2012 was dedicated to purchasing a portrait of David Malouf by Rick Amor.

Edith E. Williams

Edith Ellen Williams (nee Horne, (1851–1885) was the first wife of Hartley Williams (1843–1929), a Victorian Supreme Court judge from 1881 until 1903.

1 portrait in the collection

Grant Matthews

In 1997 Grant Matthews successfully sued Consolidated Press for unauthorised reproduction of one of his photographs.

1 portrait in the collection

Ria Murch

Sir Leslie Ward, Vanity Fair Magazine

Ria Murch (1918-2014), writer and muse, was brought up in King’s Cross and attended the Thosophist school in Mosman before acquiring secretarial skills at Miss Hales Business College.

1 portrait in the collection

Australia (Sir Edmund Barton), 1902

Portrait, chromolithograph on paper

Gift of Mr Ronald Walker 2001

2015-17 Acquisition Fund

From 2015 to 2017 the Acquisition Fund was focussed on Reg Richardson AM by Mitch Cairns, a finalist in the Archibald Prize 2014, and a great example of minimalist portraiture.

Malcolm J. McCusker AC CVO KC

Previous exhibition, 2008

Barrister and philanthropist Malcolm James McCusker AC CVO KC was born in Subiaco, Western Australia in 1938.

1 portrait in the collection

My Favourite Australian

My Favourite Australian is a project developed in collaboration with ABC TV and the people of Australia.

Thomas Forster Knox

The Knox's third son, Thomas Forster Knox (1849-1919) followed his father and older brother into business, and became prominent in the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney.

1 portrait in the collection

Reclaimed youth, 2019

Sanjeev Singh

Danelle Bergstrom

Danelle Bergstrom (b. 1957) was born in Sydney. She studied art and art education at the Julian Ashton school (1974-1979) and at Alexander Mackie CAE.

2 portraits in the collection

Self portrait, 2002

Barry Humphries

Gift of the Margaret Olley Art Trust 2003

The Hon. Dame Roma Mitchell AC DBE CVO QC

Magazine article by Magda Keaney, 2003

The Hon. Dame Roma Mitchell AC DBE CVO QC (1913–2000) was the first Australian woman to be a Queen's Counsel, Supreme Court judge, Acting Chief Justice, Deputy University Chancellor, Chancellor and State Governor.

2 portraits in the collection

Sir William Dargie CBE

Sir William Dargie, painter and eight times winner of the Archibald Prize for portraiture, died in Melbourne on July 26, 2003, aged 91.

Justice Robin Millhouse, Maslin Beach, South Australia

Justice Robin Millhouse, Maslin Beach, South Australia, 1992-1993 (printed 2019)

Robin Sellick

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2019

David Ramsey McNicoll CBE

David Ramsay McNicoll CBE (1914-2000) was editor-in-chief of Sir Frank Packer's Australian Consolidated Press from 1953 to 1972, and wrote an immensely popular column for the Bulletin magazine from 1972 to 1999.

1 portrait in the collection

Geoffrey R. Robertson AO KC

Geoffrey Roland Robertson AO KC (b. 1946), barrister, academic and defender of human rights, grew up in Sydney, attending Epping Boys' High and then the University of Sydney.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir John Kerr AK KCMG LSt J PC GCVO QC

Sir John Kerr AK KCMG LSt J PC GCVO QC (1914-1991) was the eighteenth Governor-General of Australia.

3 portraits in the collection

Sir James Dowling

Sir James Dowling (1787-1844), judge, worked as a parliamentary reporter before he was called to the Bar in London in May 1815.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Percy Spender KCVO KBE QC

Portrait, pastel on paper

Sir Percy Spender KCVO KBE QC (1897-1985) was a politician, statesman, diplomat and judge.

3 portraits in the collection

Study for Portrait of W S Robinson, 1952

Sir William Dobell OBE

Portrait, oil on board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2003

Visiting the gallery

How to get here

Plan your visit

Maps and public transport information for your visit.

Professor Derek Denton, 2009

Janet Dawson

Gift of Professor Derek Denton AC and Dame Margaret Scott AC 2014. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Bassano Ltd

The Bassano studios operated from 1850, when photographer Alexander Bassano (1829-1913) opened premises in Regent Street, London.

2 portraits in the collection

Samuel Shelley

Samuel Shelley entered the Royal Academy Schools as a seventeen year-old in 1774 and exhibited at the Academy regularly from this time until 1804.

2 portraits in the collection

Adrian Feint

Adrian Feint (1894-1971) studied at the Sydney Art School with Julian Ashton after having served in the AIF in France and Belgium in World War I, during which he was praised for gallantry.

1 portrait in the collection

Tom Glover

English-born Thomas Ellis Glover moved to New Zealand as a child and by his early twenties was working as a cartoonist, court reporter and journalist.

10 portraits in the collection

James McClelland

Jim McClelland (1915-1999) was a lawyer, politician (senator for NSW 1971-1978), judge and columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald (1986).

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Hartley Williams

Sir Hartley Williams (1843–1929), judge, was the third child and second son of Edward Eyre Williams and his wife, Jessie.

1 portrait in the collection

Douglas Carnegie

Douglas Carnegie, scion of a family whose fortune derived from a piano manufacturing company.

1 portrait in the collection

Candidate for Chelsea (9th Earl of Kintore)

Algernon Hawkins Thomond Keith-Falconer

Algernon Hawkins Thomond Keith-Falconer, 9th Earl of Kintore (1852–1930) was governor of South Australia from 1889 to 1895.

1 portrait in the collection

Edmund Barton, c. 1903

Crown Studios

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Jessie Whyte

Jessie Whyte (née Walker, 1779–1864). Born in Berwickshire, Scotland, Jessie married George Whyte (d.

1 portrait in the collection

John Knatchbull

John Knatchbull (c. 1792-1844), naval captain and convict, served in the British navy before being convicted of stealing and transported to New South Wales.

1 portrait in the collection

Kim Spooner

Kim Spooner (b. 1955), artist, studied at the University of Sydney and the Julian Ashton School, from which she gained a travel scholarship.

2 portraits in the collection

Gamaliel Butler, c. 1810

Portrait, watercolour on ivory

Purchased 2015

Self portrait, 2001

Jeffrey Smart AO

Portrait, charcoal and pastel on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Margaret Olley Art Trust 2002

Stella Bowen

Portrait, pencil, chalk and gouache on paper

Stella Bowen, painter and writer, grew up in Adelaide, where she studied with Margaret Preston.

1 portrait in the collection

Jessie Robertson, c. 1849

Thomas Bock

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG and Marilyn Darling AC 2013

Hon. Alfred Deakin

Alfred Deakin (1856-1919), Australia's second, fifth and seventh Prime Minister, was central to the Federation movement.

1 portrait in the collection

Dr HV Evatt, Albert Namatjira and Dame Mary Gilmore having a meal

Herbert Vere Evatt

Portrait, pencil on paper

Herbert Vere Evatt (1894–1965) was a Labor politician, judge, historian and statesman.

2 portraits in the collection

John Kerr, 1976

Frank Hinder

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Enid Hawkins 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Kevin Weldon AM

Kevin Weldon (1933-2023), businessman and philanthropist, spent his early years in Ingham in far north Queensland, where his father ran a car dealership.

1 portrait in the collection

Adrian Feint, 1939

Max Dupain OBE

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Richard King 2008
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Joshua Smith

Joshua Smith studied sculpture with Rayner Hoff and took classes in drawing and painting at Julian Ashton's Sydney Art School.

5 portraits in the collection

Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel

Sir Peter Paul Rubens

Chefs, winemakers, providores

Masters of Fare

Masters of fare: chefs, winemakers, providores celebrates men and women who have championed the unique culinary characteristics and produce of Australia, enriching our lives with new ideas and new flavours over the past forty years.

Tom Hughes AO KC

Hon Thomas Hughes AO KC (b. 1923), lawyer and former politician, was born in Sydney and educated at Riverview before serving in the RAAF during World War 2.

3 portraits in the collection

Sahlan Hayes

Sir Leslie Ward, Vanity Fair Magazine

Born in the United Kingdom, Sahlan Hayes lived with his family in the USA, New Zealand and the United Kingdom before settling in Australia.

9 portraits in the collection

Australia (The Hon. Alfred Deakin), 1908

Portrait, chromolithograph on paper

Gift of Ronald A Walker 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Kevin Weldon, 1978

Graeme Inson

Portrait, oil on hessian laid on cardboard

Gift of Kevin Weldon 2012

George Duncan, c. 1940

Alison Rehfisch

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Margaret Adams 1999

John Knatchbull, Murderer of Mrs Ellen Jamieson, 1844

Charles Rodius, Hiberian Printing Office

Gift of Leo Schofield AM 2005. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Paul Haefliger, 1974

Judy Cassab AO CBE

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Douglas Carnegie, 1968

Mark Strizic

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Sir Roderick Carnegie 2003

Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother

Magazine article by Leslie Moran, 2007

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother (1900–2002) was born the Honourable Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon.

2 portraits in the collection

Judicial portraits

Leslie Moran investigates the portraits of judges in the National Portrait Gallery's collection.

Peter Dombrovskis, 1996

Liz Dombrovskis

Portrait, duo-tone print on photographic paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005

Henry Reynolds

Henry Reynolds (b. 1938), historian, studied at the University of Tasmania before taking up a lectureship at Townsville University College (later James Cook University) in 1965.

1 portrait in the collection

Sketch for portrait of Bart Cummings, 1986

Bryan Westwood

Magazine article by Dr Anne Sanders, 2010

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2002

Caroline Amelia Elizabeth
of Brunswick, 1804

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.

Paddy Jaminji (Jampin)

Paddy Jaminji (Jampin) (1912-1996), Kija visual artist, spent much of his life in and around his country near Bedford Downs station in WA.

1 portrait in the collection

Anders Ousback, 1986 (printed 2018)

Gary Ede

Purchased 2018

Ada E. Evans

Ada Emily Evans (1872–1947) was the first Australian woman to attain a law degree and the first woman admitted to the Bar in New South Wales.

1 portrait in the collection

Ben Roberts-Smith VC MG

Ben Roberts-Smith VC MG (b. 1978), former Australian Army soldier, is the recipient of the Medal for Gallantry in 2006, the Victoria Cross in 2011 and the Commendation for Distinguished Service in 2013.In 2017, Roberts-Smith’s military service came under scrutiny as a result of an inquiry – commonly known as the Brereton Report – into questions of unlawful conduct on the part of Australian military personnel in Afghanistan.

1 portrait in the collection

Ron Castan AM QC

Previous exhibition, 2002

Ron Castan AM QC (1939–1999), barrister, played a leading role in some of the most significant Australian litigation involving the rights of Indigenous people.

2 portraits in the collection

Contemporary Australian Portraits

Contemporary Australian Portraits is a cross section, a sampling, of some of the present-day directions in Australian portrait practice

Anne Hyde, Duchess of York and King James II

Sir Peter Lely

2020 Annual Appeal

In 2020 the Annual Appeal was focussed on Sally Robinson's remarkable portrait of author Tim Winton.

Shirley Smith AO MBE

Shirley 'Mum Shirl' Smith AO OBE (1921–1998), humanitarian, was a Wiradjuri woman.

1 portrait in the collection

William Robertson jnr, c. 1852

Portrait, 1/6 plate daguerreotype, hand coloured with case

Gift of Fiona Turner (née Robertson) and John Robertson 2011. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

George Rose

George Rose, joint Secretary of the British Treasury at the time of the First Fleet, joined the civil service after leaving the Royal Navy in 1762.

1 portrait in the collection

Annual Appeal

Listed by year

Honour board

Oliver Cromwell

Robert Walker

Significant Australian Women 1913–2013

First Ladies

Previous exhibition, 2013

First Ladies profiles women who have achieved noteworthy firsts over the past 100 years.

Polly Borland on Germaine Greer

In their own words

Recorded 2017

Justin O'Brien

Justin O'Brien (1917-1996) was one of the major Australian artists of his generation.

3 portraits in the collection

Self portrait, 1930 Margaret Preston. © Art Gallery of New South Wales, gift of the artist at the request of the Trustees 1930

The attractions of bohemia

It's Complicated

In the company of women

Jack Purtell

associated with John Taylor

Jack Purtell (1921-2017), jockey, had his first ride at the age of fifteen.

1 portrait in the collection

William Shakespeare

associated with John Taylor

William Shakespeare

associated with John Taylor

William Shakespeare

Louis Antoine de Bougainville

Louis-Antoine de Bougainville (1729–1811), explorer, was an outstanding soldier, sailor and navigator who was gifted, too, in many intellectual spheres.

2 portraits in the collection

John Newcombe and family, 1973

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Rover Thomas

Rover Thomas (1926-1998), Kukatja-Wangkajunga artist, was born in the Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia and worked as a stockman and fencer before losing his employment upon the introduction of equal pay for indigenous workers in 1975.

1 portrait in the collection

King Charles I

Gerrit van Honthorst

Ben Roberts-Smith, 2017

Julian Kingma

Commissioned in 2018 with funds raised through the 2020 project

Bedroom, 10.30 pm (from 'The Fitzroy Series'), 2011 by Patricia Piccinini

Acceptance

More about In the flesh

Patricia Piccinini’s photographic series SO2 and The Fitzroy Series explore human acceptance of difference – applied empathy – through children’s interactions with trans-species creatures.

Bryan Westwood

Portrait, watercolour and gouache on paper

Bryan Westwood (1930-2000) was a painter and printmaker who twice won the Archibald Prize, for his portrait of artist and critic Elwyn Lynn (1989) and of the then Prime Minister, Paul Keating (1992).

10 portraits in the collection

Sketch for Prime Minister Robert Menzies

Sketch for Prime Minister Robert Menzies, 1960

Sir William Dobell OBE

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 1999

Norman Hetherington OAM (and friends), 2008

Kate Rae

Giovanni Vendramini, T Cadell & W Davies after William Evans, Sir William Beechey

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist, Kate Rae and Mosman Art Gallery with the encouragement of the Hetherington family 2015

George Rose, 1811

Portrait, engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Richard Butler, 1859

Lucy Meadows

Portrait, watercolour and pencil on paper

Purchased 2019

Kerrie Lester

Kerrie Lester (1953–2016) became well-known as a portraitist for her playful, textured, highly coloured works that appeared regularly in the Archibald and Portia Geach exhibitions of the late 1980s and the 1990s.

6 portraits in the collection

Barry Humphries, 1971 (printed 2010)

Bill McAuley

Purchased 2010

Henry Reynolds, 2012

Dave Tacon

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Ada Bird Petyarre

Portrait, watercolour and pencil on buff board

Ada Bird Petyarre (c. 1930–2009), painter and printmaker, was an Anmatyerre woman from the Northern Territory, and one of seven sisters who all became notable artists.

1 portrait in the collection

Annie Butler, 1859

Lucy Meadows

Purchased 2019

Study for commissioned portrait of HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark (profile head study), 2005

Jiawei Shen

Commissioned with funds provided by Mary Isabel Murphy 2005

Rosie Batty AO

Rosie Batty AO (b. 1962), campaigner against family violence, became well known to the Australian public in early 2014, when her eleven-year-old son Luke was murdered by his father as she stood waiting to take him home from cricket practice.

1 portrait in the collection

Rod McGeoch

Rod McGeoch AM (b. 1946) studied law at the University of Sydney before joining the ABC to forge a long career as a law reporter, commentator and spokesman; with Margaret Throsby, he won the Golden Gavel Award for Excellence in Legal Reporting.

1 portrait in the collection

Gamaliel Butler, c. 1824

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Merv Shearman 2012

Dame Roma Mitchell, 1998

Jessica Hromas

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Hammond Care Group 1999

Frances Saville, 1903

Reutlinger Studios

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2007

Sir Francis Forbes KNt

Sir Francis Forbes (1784–1841) was the first chief justice of the New South Wales Supreme Court.

1 portrait in the collection

Lleyton Hewitt, 1998

Robin Sellick

Portrait, pen and ink, pencil on paper laid on cardboard

Gift of the artist 2004

Self portrait, n.d.

Ada May Plante

Gift of Dr Penny Olsen, Peter Woollard and Artemis Georgiades 2015

Yami Lester speaks at Uluru Handback Ceremony

Yami Lester OAM

Portrait, plasticine maquette

A Yankunytjatjara man, Yami Lester OAM (1941–2017) was born at Walyatjata in the north of South Australia.

1 portrait in the collection

Jack Purtell, n.d.

John Frith

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Frith family 2013

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother), 1943-1944

Charles Wheeler

Portrait, coloured chalk on artist board

Purchased 2019

Ralph Heimans AM

Sydney-based painter Ralph Heimans AM (b. 1970) is one of the world's foremost contemporary portraitists, having created a body of work that has expanded and redefined the possibilities of what is sometimes perceived as an inflexibly traditional genre.

19 portraits in the collection

Ginger Riley at the Limmen River, Northern Territory

Ginger Riley at the Limmen River, Northern Territory, 1992 (printed 2013)

Helga Leunig

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, selenium toned on paper

Gift of Helga Leunig 2013

Ron Castan AM QC, 1995

Kate Gollings

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2001

Opening of the First Legislative Council of Victoria by Governor Charles Joseph LaTrobe at St Patrick's Hall, Bourke Street West, Melbourne November 13th 1851

Opening of the First Legislative Council of Victoria by Governor Charles Joseph LaTrobe at St Patrick's Hall, Bourke Street West, Melbourne November 13th 1851, 1883

John Noone after William Strutt

Portrait, photolithograph on paper

Purchased 2013

Edward John Eyre, Late Governor of Jamaica

Edward John Eyre, Late Governor of Jamaica, 1867

John Brown

Portrait, engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Karen McLeod Adair and Anthony Adair 2003

Jenny Munro

Jenny Munro (b. 1956) is a Wiradjuri elder and prominent activist for Aboriginal rights and sovereignty.

1 portrait in the collection

Barry Humphries, 1962

Portrait, photo screenprint with ballpoint pen framing lines on paper

Gift of the artist 2003. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Self portrait, c. 1982

Bea Maddock AM

Gift of David Archer 2016

Paddy Jaminji, 1986

Martin van der Wal

Portrait, inkjet print on rag paper

Purchased 2005

The Hon. John Howard OM AC

The Hon. John Howard OM AC (b. 1939) was Prime Minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007.

1 portrait in the collection

Fiona Wood AO

Fiona Wood AO (b.1958), plastic and reconstructive surgeon, is co-founder of the biotech company Clinical Cell Culture Limited (known as C3), which pioneers and commercialises treatments for burns.

1 portrait in the collection

Ivan Gaal

Magazine article by Magda Keaney, 2003

Ivan Gaal came to Australia as a refugee from his native Hungary in 1957.

1 portrait in the collection

Mrs Cameron and the V&A

In March 2003 Magda Keaney travelled to London to join the photography section of the Victoria & Albert Museum for three months.

200 Years of Portraiture

To celebrate his family bicentenary, Malcolm Robertson looks at the portraiture legacy left by his ancestors.

Ada May Plante

Ada May Plante (1875–1950), artist, was born in New Zealand and came to Melbourne with her family in 1888.

1 portrait in the collection

Dorothy Robinson Napangardi

Johnstone O'Shannessy & Co

Dorothy Robinson Napangardi (c. 1956–2013) was an influential Pintupi/Warlpiri artist who developed a distinctive abstract monochromatic style across the course of her career.

1 portrait in the collection

Edith Ellen Williams, c. 1871

Portrait, albumen silver photograph, hand coloured on paper

Gift of Ross and Judy O'Connell 2016

Sir Hartley Williams, c. 1871

Johnstone O'Shannessy & Co

Portrait, albumen silver photograph, hand coloured on paper

Gift of Ross and Judy O'Connell 2016

Ross Watson

Ross Watson specialises in interpolating representations of lithe semi-naked men into copies of paintings by masters such as Vermeer, Ter Borsch, David and Bronzino.

2 portraits in the collection

Shahleena Musk

Shahleena Musk is Larrakia lawyer from Darwin. She was the first Aboriginal person to graduate from the Northern Territory University (now Charles Darwin University) and to be admitted to the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas Mackdougall Brisbane

Batchelder & Company Photo

Thomas Mackdougall Brisbane (1773-1860) was born into an aristocratic Scottish family and entered the army at the age of 16.

2 portraits in the collection

Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, c. 1870

Portrait, carte de visite photograph

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

Turia Pitt

Turia Pitt (b. 1987), author, businesswoman, motivational speaker and athlete, grew up in Ulladulla, New South Wales and studied engineering and science at the University of NSW, graduating in 2010.

1 portrait in the collection

Mum Shirl (Mrs Shirley Smith), 1988

Juno Gemes

Gift of the artist 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

James Gillray

Previous exhibition, 2005

James Gillray, caricaturist and printmaker, was born in Chelsea and learned the art of engraving as a youth in London.

1 portrait in the collection

Glossy 2

Faces, Magazines, Now

Following the success of Glossy: Faces, Magazines, Now in 1999 the National Portrait Gallery again highlights the huge array of contemporary portraiture in the pages of magazines.

Sir James Gobbo, 1983

Paul Fitzgerald AM

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Gift of Mercy Health and Aged Care 2006

2013-14 Acquisition Fund

This 1910 portrait of Elizabeth Sarah (Lillie) Roberts by Tom Roberts was brought into the Gallery's collection with the assistance of the Acquisition Fund in 2013.

Chester Porter QC

Previous exhibition, 1999

From the age of thirteen Chester Porter QC (1926–2021) knew he wanted to be a barrister.

1 portrait in the collection

The Possibilities of Portraiture

What does 'portraiture mean at the end of the 20th century? At the outset of building a national portrait collection it seems an appropriate question to investigate.

Chester Porter QC, 1997

Graeme Inson

Portrait, oil on canvas laid on board

Gift of Jean Porter and family 2021. Donated through the Australia Government’s Cultural Gifts Program.

Shahleena Musk, c. 2000

Penny Tweedie

Gift of the artist 2004

Rosie Batty, 2017

Nikki Toole

Commissioned with funds provided by the Circle of Friends 2017

Hong Fu

Hong Fu was born in China in 1946 and held his first solo exhibition at the National Art Gallery, Beijing, in 1988.

1 portrait in the collection

Mary Windeyer

Mary Windeyer (née Bolton, 1837-1912), women's rights campaigner, was one of the nine children of Robert Thorley Bolton, a clergyman who emigrated to New South Wales in 1839.

3 portraits in the collection

Bart Cummings AM

James Faed, W Wilding after John Watson Gordon

James Bartholomew (Bart) Cummings OAM (1927-2015) was Australia's most successful thoroughbred racehorse trainer.

1 portrait in the collection

General Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, 1850 (published)

Portrait, mezzotint on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Ross A Field 2008

Walter Preston

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, selenium toned on paper

Walter Preston, engraver and convict, came to New South Wales aboard the Guildford in 1812.

1 portrait in the collection

Gough and John, 1981

Peter van der Veer

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005

Edward Knox Jnr and Thomas Forster Knox., c. 1855

Portrait, cast plaster, painted

Portrait, daguerreotype

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Dr Peter Halliday in memory of Norah Knox 2010

The Federal Leader Edmund Barton, c. 1900

Nelson Illingworth

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family 2012

Martha Knox, c. 1855

Portrait, daguerreotype

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Dr Peter Halliday in memory of Norah Knox 2010

Lan Wang, Xini, Jiawei Shen and Billy, 2010

Purchased 2012

Charles Tingwell AM

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2002

Charles 'Bud' Tingwell AM (1923-2009), actor, became the youngest radio announcer in Australia when he was employed at Sydney radio station 2CH as a cadet.

1 portrait in the collection

Dr Who?

It is not well known that the person who composed the famous theme music for the BBC's Doctor Who series was Australian Ron Grainer.

Janine Burke

Janine Burke (b. 1952) art historian, biographer, novelist and curator, graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1974.

1 portrait in the collection

Julian Burnside AO KC

Julian Burnside AO (b. 1949), barrister, grew up in Melbourne, attending Melbourne Grammar and studying economics and law at Monash in the late 1960s.

1 portrait in the collection

Lleyton Hewitt AM

At twenty years old, Lleyton Hewitt AM (b. 1981) was the youngest male tennis player ever to be ranked world number one.

1 portrait in the collection

Turia Pitt, 2017 (printed 2021)

Peter Brew-Bevan

Purchased with funds provided by the Annual Appeal for Contemporary Australian Photography 2021

Portrait of Kenneth Rowell, 1967

David Strachan

Celebrating 100 years of the Historic Memorials Collection

Gift of Margaret Olley 2002. Transferred from the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Of Kings and men

Previous exhibition, 2011

This display celebrates 100 years of the Historic Memorials Collection and its role in commissioning portraits of parliamentary and judicial figures in Australia.

Sporting Archibald

Previous exhibition, 2000

Celebrating the focus on sport during 2000, this special exhibition features our national sporting heroes and heroines immortalised on canvas

Dame Elizabeth Couchman DBE

Dame Elizabeth Couchman DBE (1876–1982), political activist, grew up in in Geelong and gained a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Australia.

1 portrait in the collection

Colin Madigan and Robert Hughes, Canberra

Colin Madigan and Robert Hughes, Canberra, 1982 (printed 2000)

David Moore

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
The series 'David Moore: From Face to Face' was acquired as a gift of the artist and with financial assistance from Timothy Fairfax AC and L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2001

Ken Rosewall AM MBE

Australian Painters Photographed by R. Ian Lloyd

Ken Rosewall AM MBE (b. 1934), champion tennis player, won the Australian Open in 1953 and again nineteen years later in 1972 (he remains both the youngest, and oldest, person to win the title).

1 portrait in the collection

Studio

Previous exhibition, 2007

Studio: Australian Painters Photographed by R

Tony Bilson OAM

Tony Bilson, OAM (1944-2020), chef, grew up in Melbourne and was educated at Melbourne Grammar school before opening his first restaurant, La Pomme d'Or, in Camberwell in 1971.

1 portrait in the collection

2014-15 Acquisition Fund

Portrait, pen and ink on paper

Kristin Headlam's portrait of Chris Wallace-Crabbe was acquired with the support of the Circle of Friends in 2014.

Barton and Watson, 1902

G. H. Dancey

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Johann Zoffany

Johann Zoffany, painter of portraits and conversation pieces, grew up in the court of the Prince von Thurn und Taxis in Germany, where his father was employed.

1 portrait in the collection

Dame Mabel Brookes, c. 1955

Sir William Dargie CBE

Gift of Rodney Davidson AO OBE 2014. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Richard Tognetti AO

Richard Tognetti AO (b. 1965), violinist, conductor and composer, trained with William Primrose in Wollongong and Alice Waten in Sydney before undertaking further studies with Igor Ozim in Switzerland.

2 portraits in the collection

Small Holdings (The Earl Carrington Baron Charles Robert Carrington)

Charles Robert Wynn-Carrington

Charles Robert Wynn-Carrington (1843–1928), 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire, landowner and Liberal politician, was governor of New South Wales in the late 1880s.

2 portraits in the collection

Ginger Riley

Ginger Riley Munduwalawala (c. 1937-2002), stockman and artist, was born in south-eastern Arnhem Land, in the coastal salt-water country of the Mara people.

1 portrait in the collection

William Robertson, c. 1852

Portrait, 1/6 plate daguerreotype, hand coloured with case

Gift of Fiona Turner (née Robertson) and John Robertson 2011. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Fred Hollows, 1993

Kerrie Lester

Portrait, oil and hand-stitching on canvas

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 1999
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

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.

Jan Senbergs AM

Portrait Photography from the Collection

Jan Senbergs AM (1939-2024) came to Australia from Latvia in 1950. He studied at the Melbourne School of Printing and Graphic Arts, where he was influenced by Leonard French.

2 portraits in the collection

In the mirror: self portrait with Joy Hester

Depth of Field

Portraits in the Landscape

Over the last five years the National Portrait Gallery has developed a collection of portrait photographs that reflects both the strength and diversity of Australian achievement as well as the talents of our photographers.

Open Air

Previous exhibition, 2008

Open Air is an exhibition of portraits of Australians in environments of particular significance to them.

Betty Churcher AO

(Elizabeth) Betty Churcher AO (1931–2015), gallery director, author, painter and lecturer, was educated in Brisbane before studying at the Royal College of Art in London.

3 portraits in the collection

Shane Gould

Born the year that Dawn Fraser won her first Olympic Gold medal, Shane Gould (b.1956) in her very brief international career, became one of the world’s greatest female swimmers.

Ben Quilty

Ben Quilty (b. 1973), painter, gained bachelor’s degrees in painting and visual communication at Sydney College of the Arts and the University of Western Sydney.

1 portrait in the collection

Rolf Harris

Rolf Harris (1930-2023) was named the 5th most influential artist and entertainer of the 20th century in a millennial poll by Time magazine.

4 portraits in the collection

Omai

Omai (Mai) (c. 1750-1778), the first Polynesian to visit Britain, was a young man of middling social standing who volunteered to sail from Huahine to England with Captain Furneaux on the Adventure (the ship accompanying James Cook's Resolution on Cook's second voyage of discovery (1772-1775).

2 portraits in the collection

Gamaliel Butler

Gamaliel Butler (1783–1852), lawyer and free settler, emigrated to Van Diemen’s Land in 1824 with his wife, Sarah (née Paine, 1787–1870).

2 portraits in the collection

Sketch of Clifton Pugh painting John Perceval

Clifton Pugh AO

Magazine article by Celina Fox, 2006

Clifton Pugh AO was one of Australia’s best-known artists of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and one of its leading advocates for the arts.

11 portraits in the collection

Portrait of an English Woman c. 1532-5 (detail)

A new perspective

An exhibition devoted to Hans Holbein's English commissions shows the portraitist bringing across the Channel new technical developments in art - with a dazzling facility.

Self portrait, c. 1934

Stella Bowen

Portrait, oil on cardboard

Purchased 2003

William Bligh

William Bligh (1754-1817), naval officer, was born in Plymouth and first went to sea at around the age of eight.

3 portraits in the collection

Richard Tognetti, n.d.

Stuart Campbell

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Estate of Stuart Campbell 2012

Jan Senbergs, 2015

Jacqueline Mitelman

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Wayne Williams 2015

Painter John Brack with Professor Alex Mitchell and Sir Garfield Barwick

The Rt. Hon Sir Garfield Barwick AK GCMG QC

The Rt Hon Sir Garfield Barwick AK GCMG QC (1903–1997) was Chief Justice of Australia from 27 April 1964 to 11 February 1981 – the longest serving Chief Justice of Australia.

2 portraits in the collection

Portrait of Rolf, 1968

Hayward Veal

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Self portrait, 1992

Rolf Harris

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 1999

Jan Senbergs, 1976

Keith Looby

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Padraic McGuinness 2001
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Rolf Harris, 1999

Polly Borland

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

George Pell AC

George Pell AC (1941–2023), former Roman Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne and Sydney, was born and educated in Ballarat, Victoria.

1 portrait in the collection

Barry Humphries, 1958

Clifton Pugh AO

Gift of L Gordon Darling AC CMG and Marilyn Darling AC 1998. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

2022 Annual Appeal

In 2022 the Annual Appeal was focussed on Mayatjara by Robert Fielding, a series of 24 photographs of Elders of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara community.

Herbert Benjamin George Larkin CBE

Magazine article by Christine Clark, 2005

Herbert Benjamin George Larkin CBE (c. 1871- 1944), shipping administrator, came to Australia from England and joined the office of the Australian Steam Navigation Company.

1 portrait in the collection

Glossy too

The Glossy 2 exhibition highlights the integral role magazine photography plays in illustrating and shaping our contemporary culture.

Visiting the National Portrait Gallery

Visual Stories

Access support for a general visit to the Gallery.

Rolf Harris, 1989

Rick Amor

Portrait, pencil on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Thomas Sutcliffe Mort and his wife Theresa

Husbands and Wives

Photographic Portraits from 19th Century Australia

Previous exhibition, 2010

'I have just been to my dressing case to take a peep at you.

Bea Maddock AM

Previous exhibition, 2005

Bea Maddock AM (1934–2016) studied at the Hobart Technical College in the early 1950s before travelling to London, where she attended the Slade School from 1959 to 1961.

2 portraits in the collection

Peter Brew-Bevan Portraits

In this exhibition Sydney based photographer Peter Brew-Bevan brings together an intimate collection of works that highlight his passion for the genre of portraiture over the last 10 years

Cardinal George Pell, 2007 (printed 2012)

David Roberts

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Neil Armfield, 2010

Adam Cullen

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned 2010

Rod Laver,

Ern McQuillan OAM

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003

Self portrait, 1921

Thea Proctor

Purchased with funds provided by the Ross family in memory of Noel and Enid Eliot 2013

John Connell

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2012

John Connell (c. 1759–1849), free settler, merchant and landowner, came to New South Wales aboard the Earl Cornwallis, which arrived in Sydney in June 1801.

1 portrait in the collection

Emmanuel at bedtime, 2011 by George Mifsud

To startle the eye

National Photographic Portrait Prize judge Joanna Gilmour previews the 2012 exhibition.

La Milo in Lady Godiva procession, Coventry, 1907

Pansy Montague

Magazine article by Magda Keaney, 2006

Pansy Montague, ‘La Milo’ (c. 1885-unknown) appeared as a chorus girl and actress in Melbourne from about 1898, and in 1901 understudied Nellie Stewart in Sydney.

10 portraits in the collection

Hearts of Darkness

The National Portrait Gallery's acquisition of the portrait of Edward John Eyre by pioneering English photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.

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

Milestones

This month I turn fifty, soI am just now looking rather more closely than usual at Fiona Foley, Steven Heathcote, Brenda Croft, Russell Crowe, Jeff Fenech, Akira Isogawa, Lee Kernaghan, My Le Thi, Shona Wilson and Mark Taylor AO, mindful that they too were 1964 arrivals.

Hon. Gough Whitlam AC QC

Portrait, oil on canvas laid on masonite

Edward Gough Whitlam AC QC (1916-2014) was prime minister from the end of 1972 to the end of 1975.

12 portraits in the collection

The Hon E.G. Whitlam AC QC, 1980

Graeme Inson

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2002

Australian of the Year

Inspiring a Nation

Previous exhibition, 2010

The Australian of the Year Awards have often provoked controversy about who is selected and whether their achievements are remarkable.

All you can eat

Magazine article by Lauren Dalla, 2003

In February 2003 the National Portrait Gallery Circle of Friends brought Sir Robert Strong to Australia to present a series of lectures entitled The Artists & The Banquet- A History of Dining, which focused on the links between gardens and table decoration from the Renaissance to the Victorian Era.

Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, 1842

Frederick Bromley after Robert Frain

Portrait, mezzotint on paper

Purchased with funds provided by Ross A Field 2008

Great Suffragette demonstration in London

Great Suffragette demonstration in London, 1911

Rose Stereograph Company

Portrait, stereo view gelatin silver photograph on paper

Purchased 2011

Adam Scott: at Sanctuary Cove Golf Course

Celebrities on the field

Magazine article by Christine Clark, 2006

Robin Sellick's portraits of Australian sportspeople include Harry Kewell, Adam Scott, Shane Warne, Mark Webber and John Newcombe.

Beyond the bow tie

Nathan Faiman delves into the rich life story and legacy of Alan Goldberg.

Gillian Armstrong, 1985

Stuart Campbell

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Estate of Stuart Campbell 2012

Thomas Griffiths Wainewright

Self Portraits in Australia

Thomas Griffiths Wainewright (1794-1847) is one of the most intriguing and talented figures in colonial Australian art.

4 portraits in the collection

To Look Within

Ned Kelly & co at Euroa, 9 and 10 December 1878

This exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of self-portraits in Australia, from the colonial period to the present

Prison photograph of Ned Kelly c.1873, image courtesy National Museum of Australia.

The outlaws coolly disported themselves

'Each man arrayed himself in a new rig from head to foot, and even such luxuries as soaps and perfumery were not despised'

Shane Warne, 2006

Robin Sellick

Purchased 2006

Miss Frances Samuel, 1840

Maurice Felton

Purchased 2011

Discussion between Bob Hawke and Yunupingu, Burunga Festival, Northern Territory

Discussion between Bob Hawke and Yunupingu, Burunga Festival, Northern Territory, 1988 (printed 2015)

Sue Ford

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2016

Purchased 2015

Australia’s great internationalists

Penelope Grist explores the United Nations stories in the Gallery’s collection.

Hon Tom Hughes KC, 2001

Jiawei Shen

Previous exhibition, 2019

Commissioned with funds provided by Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull 2003

Primed

Some Prime Ministers

Seventeen of Australia’s thirty prime ministers to date are represented in the contrasting sizes, moods and mediums of these portraits.

Judy Cassab

The artist's diary

Previous exhibition, 2013

The artist's diary profiles six decades of Cassab's work, from the early portrait commissions of the 1950s to later paintings that have helped confirm her eminent place in the canon of Australian portraiture.

Uncommon Australians

The vision of Gordon and Marilyn Darling

Previous exhibition, 2015

This exhibition showcases portraits acquired through the generosity of the National Portrait Gallery’s Founding Patrons, L Gordon Darling AC CMG and Marilyn Darling AC.

Australians in Hollywood

Previous exhibition, 2003

Although perceived to be a recent phenomenon, the 'Aussie invasion' of Hollywood can actually be traced as far back as the early 1900s

Mark Strizic

A Journey in Photography

Learning resource archive

This exhibition traces the creative output of nearly 50 years by one of Australia's landmark living photographers.

NPPP 2012 learning resource

Exploring select works from the NPPP 2012. For secondary students.

National Portrait Gallery unveils twenty new portrait commissions to celebrate twenty years

18 October 2018

Archived media releases 2018

The National Portrait Gallery has unveiled twenty new portrait commissions of Australian leaders and individualists as part of its twentieth birthday celebrations in a new exhibition, 20/20: Celebrating twenty years with twenty new portrait commissions.

Dr B Marika AO

Portrait, oil on composition board

Dr B Marika AO (1954–2021), Yolgnu leader, printmaker, arts administrator, environmentalist and cultural activist, was a member of the renowned Marika family of artists and activists.

2 portraits in the collection

James McClelland, 1946

Nancy Borlase AM

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Gillian Appleton (McClelland) 1999
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

William Robertson and Martha Mary Robertson

William Robertson and Martha Mary Robertson, 1863

William Edward Kilburn

Portrait, carte de visite photograph on card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Malcolm Robertson in memory of William Thomas Robertson 2018. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Horatio S. Wills

Magazine article by Angus Trumble, 2015

Horatio Spencer Howe Wills (1811–1861), pastoralist, politician and newspaper proprietor, was born in Sydney, several months after the death of his father, Edward Spencer Wills, a merchant and shipowner who'd arrived in New South Wales under a life sentence for highway robbery in 1799.

2 portraits in the collection

Country man

Angus Trumble’s tribute to the late Right Honourable Malcolm Fraser.

Admiral Bligh, 1801

John Chapman

Portrait, stipple engraving on paper

Purchased 2010

Dorothy Gordon OBE

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2003

Dorothy Gordon (Jenner) OBE, ‘Andrea’ (1891-1985), actress, dressmaker, stuntwoman, journalist, radio broadcaster and charity fundraiser, grew up on a property near Narrabri and attended boarding school in Sydney before gaining a part as a chorus girl in Girl in a Train in Melbourne in 1912.

2 portraits in the collection

The spirit of the gift

Former NPG Director, Andrew Sayers celebrates the support given to the Gallery by Gordon and Marilyn Darling.

The National Portrait Gallery building in twilight

On a human scale

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2006

The design concepts behind the new National Portrait Gallery building in Canberra.

Little treasures

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2002

The acquisition of the ivory miniatures of Mortimer and Mrs Lewis.

Untitled #21/09 (after Ricci, 1700; featuring Matthew Mitcham)

Untitled #21/09 (after Ricci, 1700; featuring Matthew Mitcham), 2009

Ross Watson

Portrait, oil on board

Gift of the artist 2010. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Edmond John Hogan

Previous exhibition, 2005

Edmond John (Ned) Hogan (1883-1964), farmer and premier, left school early and engaged in road-making, timber-cutting, farm-labouring and rabbiting in addition to farm chores at home.

1 portrait in the collection

Clifton Pugh

Australians

This exhibition offers a comprehensive display of Clifton Pugh's portraits revealing his development and growth from tonal paintings to a unique style that was in demand from politicians, artists, academics and Australian personalities.

Thomas Gainsborough, c.1758-59 by Thomas Gainsborough

Keep it in the family

Magazine article by David Solkin, 2019

David Solkin ponders the provocations and inspirations of the enigmatic Thomas Gainsborough.

Desperately seeking Sonia

Magazine article by Angus Trumble, 2015

Esther Erlich’s portrait of Lady McMahon.

Where the wild things are

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2009

Michael Desmond explores the complex portrait of Dr Bob Brown by Harold 'The Kangaroo' Thornton.

Cocky McGrath

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite

The long life and few words of a vice-regal cockatoo

William Robertson, 1866

Thomas Adams Hill

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Malcolm Robertson in memory of William Thomas Robertson 2018
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Jeffrey Smart AO

Previous exhibition, 2020

Jeffrey Smart (1921–2013) was an iconic realist painter, acclaimed for his urban and industrial landscapes which form one of the most original and recognisable bodies of work in the canon of Australian art.

6 portraits in the collection

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2020

The exhibition is selected from a national field of entries, reflecting the distinctive vision of Australia's aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of their subjects.

Arianne McNaught

Finalist interviews

I think the most important thing in capturing candid shots is to never take the photo when people are expecting you to press the shutter. The more poignant moments are not the stock standard images of people looking at the camera smiling but after or before when they are really interacting with each other.

Australian Visit

Previous exhibition, 2006

The exhibition will include works of art from the NPG Canberra's permanent collection with some inward loans and aims to highlight the achievements of notable Australians.

101 photographic portraits

Magazine article by Michelle Fracaro, 2004

Pat Corrigan's generous gift of 100 photographic portraits by Greg Weight.

Lady Jane Grey, c.1590-1600 (also known as The ‘Streatham’ portrait) Artist unknown

The Royal she

Magazine article by Inga Walton, 2019

Traversing paint and pixels, Inga Walton examines portraits of select women in Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits.

Sarah and Ann Jacob, c. 1866

Townsend Duryea

Portrait, carte de visite photograph

Purchased 2018

Celebrity cutpurse

Magazine article by Dr Grace Blakeley-Carroll, 2010

Grace Carroll discusses the portrait of the late-eighteenth century gentleman pickpocket George Barrington.

2021 Annual Appeal

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2003

In 2021 the Annual Appeal was focussed on Peter Brew-Bevan's portraits of athletes Turia Pitt, Leisel Jones OAM and Ellie Cole OAM.

A Singular Line

A newly acquired work by Stella Bowen adds to the National Portrait Gallery's growing collection of important Australian self-portraits.

Making Portraits

Five Years of National Portrait Gallery Commissions

The considered matching of artist to subject has produced an amazing collection of unique and original works in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery

Richard Tognetti #1510, 2018

by Louise Hearman

Commissioned with funds provided by Peter Weiss AO 2018

Edward Riou

Infamy, the macabre & the portrait

Edward Riou (1762-1801), naval officer, began his career with the Royal Navy at the age of twelve.

2 portraits in the collection

Sideshow Alley

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.

Venetia, Lady Digby, circa 1633-1634 by Sir Anthony van Dyck

Love in the extreme

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2020

Joanna Gilmour reveals love’s more intense manifestations in the tale of Lord Kenelm and Venetia Digby.

The world of Thea Proctor

Magazine article by Kwon Hyeeun, 2019

The world of Thea Proctor was the National Portrait Gallery's second exhibition to follow the life of a single person, following Rarely Everage: The lives of Barry Humphries.

Portrait of Kang Sehwang, 1783 by Yi Myeonggi

The artist, the scholar and the gentleman

Kwon Hyeeun introduces Korean portraits of Kang Sehwang, and five generations of the Kang family.

Mexico from the Palace painted by ‘Maximilian Emperor'

Empirical art

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2003

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.

Picture this...

This edited version of a speech by Andrew Sayers examines some of the antecedents of the National Portrait Gallery and set out the ideas behind the modern Gallery and its collection.

In bloom

Magazine article by Susi Muddiman, 2017

Susi Muddiman delights in Michael Zavros’ stunning portrait of the honourable Dame Quentin Bryce AD CVO.

Dr Brown and Green Old Time Waltz, 1983

Harold Thornton

Portrait, aquatint engraving on paper

Gift of the Estate of Harold Thornton 2009

The Mutineers turning Lieut Bligh and part of the Officers and Crew adrift from His Majesty's Ship the Bounty

The Mutineers turning Lieut Bligh and part of the Officers and Crew adrift from His Majesty's Ship the Bounty, 1790

Robert Dodd

Purchased with funds provided by the Ian Potter Foundation 2008

Andrew Gaze, 2018

by George Fetting

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2019

Commissioned with funds provided by Trent Birkett 2018

The Right Honourable Sir Ninian Stephen KGAK GCMG GCVO KBE QC, 2006 by Rick Amor

Prima facie

Sarah Engledow casts a judicious eye over portraits in the Victorian Bar’s Peter O’Callaghan QC Portrait Gallery.

HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, 2006 Ralph Heimans AM

Announcing... Ralph Heimans: Portraiture. Power. Influence.

30 November 2023

Media

In March 2024, the National Portrait Gallery will launch a major exhibition of the work of Ralph Heimans AM, the Australian artist who’s painted some of the world’s most recognisable people.

Finest quality

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2010

Joanna Gilmour explores the life of Chinese-Australian businessman and philanthropist Quong Tart.

Portrait Donors

Listed by year

Honour board

The Dissecting Room

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2015

Joanna Gilmour accounts for Australia’s deliciously ghoulish nineteenth century criminal portraiture.

Sharon Zwi

Finalist interviews

We were in Gaza shooting a documentary and we had heard about the orphanages and wanted to visit and document some of the children who had lost parents during the wars in Gaza.

Announcing.... In their own words

24 November 2020

Archived media releases 2020

Inspiring Australians tell their own stories in a unique new gallery audio tour, developed in collaboration with the National Library of Australia.

Relaxed mornings

Visual Stories

Access support for a visiting the Gallery before the general 10:00am opening time.

Mary, Queen of Scots by unknown artist, National Portrait Gallery of London

Portrait dendrochronology

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

Risk Assessment for groups of students

For your peace of mind

School visit information

Find out about our environment, security checks, potential hazards and more.

The Good Doctor

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2009

Dr Sarah Engledow describes the achievements of internationally renowned burns and trauma surgeon Professor Fiona Wood.

In the galleries

Christopher Chapman highlights the inaugural hang of the new National Portrait Gallery building which opened in December 2008.

Dr Edward MacMahon, 1959 by William Dobell

Bill and Ted's excellent portrait.

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2016

Sarah Engledow on Messrs Dobell and MacMahon and the art of friendship.

NPPP 2012 exhibition essay

Joanna Gilmour, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2012 Prize.

Selected images

Magazine article by Alison Weir, 2011

Take a peek at a selection of the portraits you can see in the exhibition.

Icons and imagery

Alison Weir explores the National Portrait Gallery, London and the BP Portrait Award to find what makes a good painted portrait - past and present.

In good company

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2015

Jean Appleton’s 1965 self portrait makes a fine addition to the National Portrait Gallery’s collection writes Joanna Gilmour.

Heart of Darkness

Magazine article by Magda Keaney, 2002

Magda Keaney talks with Bill Leak about his bold new portrait of Robert Hughes in the National Portrait Gallery collection.

Gordon Darling Hall, National Portrait Gallery

Architecture

About us

Natural light and human proportions – the design by Johnson Pilton Walker

Virtually yours

Magazine article by Gillian Raymond, 2022

Gill Raymond on creating thought-provoking, interactive content to connect to our online community through portraiture.

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.

Lovers of light

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2008

Dr Sarah Engledow traces the significant links between Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo and Evelyn Chapman through their portraits.

The Honourable Bob Hawke savouring a strawberry milkshake, 2017 by Harold David

The intellectual larrikin

Magazine article by Barrie Cassidy, 2019

Barrie Cassidy pays textured tribute to the inimitable Bob Hawke.

Painter John Brack with Professor Alex Mitchell and Sir Garfield Barwick, c. 1977

Jozef Vissel

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2004

Gift of the Jozef Vissel 2015

Reflections on castles

Andrew Sayers describes the unique characteristics of the international band of portrait galleries.

Louise Whelan

Finalist interviews

I met Kaloti Parmjit the day I took the photo. I first visited the Sikh temple in the suburb of Glenwood to take photos as part of a social documentary project I'm undertaking for the State Library of NSW.

Opening of the First Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia by H.R.H. The Duke of Cornwall and York, May 9, 1901, 1903 by Tom Roberts

Empire records

Magazine article by Kylie Scroope, 2011

Celebrates the centenary of the first national art collection, the Historic Memorials Collection, housed at Australia's Parliament House.

Their brilliant careers

Magazine article by Jenny Gall, 2017

Jenny Gall delves into Starstruck to celebrate some of Australian cinema’s iconic women.

First-Class Marksman, 1946 by Sidney Nolan

Money for Myth

Magazine article by Jane Raffan, 2015

Australian character on the market by Jane Raffan.

Australian Princess

Magazine article by Katherine Russell, 2005

The full-length portrait of HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark by artist Jiawei Shen, has become a destination piece for visitors.

Private virtues public lives

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2010

Family affections are preserved in a fine selection of intimate portraits.

Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles, 1824 by James Thomson

Audacity, audacity, audacity

Angus delves into the biographies of two ambitious characters; Sir Stamford Raffles and Sir John Pope-Hennessy.

20/20 launch speech

Magazine article by Karen Vickery, 2015

Dr Helen Nugent AO, Chairman, National Portrait Gallery at the opening of 20/20: Celebrating twenty years with twenty new portrait commissions.

The portrait writ large

Karen Vickery on Chang the Chinese giant in Australia.

Hard truths

Magazine article by Jennifer Higgie, 2022

Jennifer Higgie reveals how Alice Neel reinvigorated 20th century portraiture with her honest and perceptive depictions of the human experience.

Depth of Field

Magazine article by Lauren Dalla, 2004

The exhibition Depth of Field displays a selection of portrait photographs that reflect the strength and diversity of Australian achievement.

Emblems of beauty

Magazine article by Keith Christiansen, 2012

Keith Christiansen introduces the exhibition The Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

The personal and the historical

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2010

Where do we draw a line between the personal and the historical? Although she died in Melbourne in 1975, when I was not quite eleven years old, I have the vividest memories of my maternal grandmother Helen Borthwick.

You beauty

Joanna Gilmour explores the fact and fictions surrounding the legendary life of Irish-born dancer Lola Montez.

Corporate Characters

Magazine article by Gillian Raymond, 2005

A collection of thirty-seven caricatures by the artist Joe Greenberg capture the heroes and villians of Australian business in the 1980s.

Talking heads

In their own words lead researcher Louise Maher on the novel project that lets the Gallery’s portraits speak for themselves.

Forest Creek, Mount Alexander Diggings, 1852 by S. T. Gill

The Rothschilds, the Montefiores, and the Victorian Gold Rush

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2009

Some years ago my colleague Andrea Wolk Rager and I spent several days in the darkened basement of a Rothschild Bank, inspecting every one of the nearly 700 autochromes created immediately before World War I by the youthful Lionel de Rothschild.

Home and away

Sir William Dobell painted the portraits of Sir Charles Lloyd Jones and Sir Hudson Fysh, who did much to promote the image of Australia in this country and abroad.

Exposed: Voyeurism Surveillance and the camera since 1870

Magazine article by Sandra Phillips, 2010

The Tate/SFMOMA exhibition Exposed examined the role of photography in voyeurism and how it challenges ideas of privacy and propriety.

Two painters

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2007

Chris Chapman explains how Matthys Gerber bridges the gap between abstraction and portraiture.

Indexing, the art of

Magazine article by Raimond Gaita, 2015

The first index I created was for my first book, and, to my astonishment, that was almost twenty-five years ago.

Have you forgotten yet? 2014 by Lee Grant

All that fall

Raimond Gaita comments on war and truth in the context of the First World War.

Alexander Pearce
executed for murder
July 19th 1824

Public hanging

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2008

As a convict Thomas Bock was required to sketch executed murders for science; as a free man, fashionable society portraits.

Full time

Magazine article by Alistair McGhie, 2017

Alistair McGhie reminisces about three Australian rugby greats commissioned for the Portrait Gallery collection by Patrick Corrigan AM.

Sunset in the drawing room at Chesney Wold by Hablot Knight Brown

Portraiture in a Bleak House

Magazine article by Inga Walton, 2022

It may seem an odd thing to do at one’s leisure on a beautiful tropical island, but I spent much of my midwinter break a few weeks ago re-reading Bleak House.

Virginia Woolf, 1902 George Charles Beresford

Love my way

Inga Walton delves into the bohemian group of artists and writers who used each other as muses and transformed British culture.

Portrait of Thea Proctor, 1905 by George Lambert

The real Thea

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2015

Long after the portraitist became indifferent to her, and died, a beguiling portrait hung over its subject.

Be bold

Magazine article by Katherine Russell, 2007

The name of Florence Broadhurst, one of Australia’s most significant wallpaper and textile designers, is now firmly cemented in the canon of Australian art and design.

Uncommon Australians

The vision of Gordon and Marilyn Darling

Magazine article by Sandra Phillips, 2020

Sarah Engledow writes about Gordon and Marilyn Darling and their support for the National Portrait Gallery throughout its evolution.

Vincent Brady leading anti Bicentenary Protest, Brisbane, 1987 Michael Aird

Activating the space

Sandra Phillips on portraits of Indigenous activism from Cairns Art Gallery’s 2019 Queen’s Land Blak Portraiture exhibition.

Arcadia: Sound of the sea

Exhibition introduction

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2011

One night in the spring of 1970 in an old house in Whale Beach, north of Sydney, John Witzig, Albe Falzon and David Elfick put together the first issue of Tracks, playing Neil Young’s album Harvest over and over again as they pasted up galleys of type.

The more things change

National Photographic Portrait Prize curator, Sarah Engledow, finds reward in a difficult task and ultimately uncovers the essence of portraiture.

Christmas Island

Magazine article by Yvonne Audette AM, 2005

This is my last Trumbology before, in a little more than a week from now, I pass to my successor Karen Quinlan the precious baton of the Directorship of the National Portrait Gallery.

Meeting by Murder

The story behind two colonial portraits; a lithograph of captain and convict John Knatchbull and newspaper illustration of Robert Lowe, Viscount Sherbrooke.

Poison pen

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2010

Michael Desmond examines the career of the eighteenth-century suspected poisoner and portrait artist Thomas Griffiths Wainewright.

Vanity fair

Magazine article by Ashleigh Wadman, 2012

Ashleigh Wadman rediscovers the Australian characters represented with a kindly touch by the British portrait artist Leslie Ward for the society magazine Vanity Fair.

Cachasunghia, Osage Warrior 1804–06 by Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin

Political profiles

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2016

Joanna Gilmour examines the prolific output of Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin, and discovers the risk of taking a portrait at face value.

Part of the crew of His Majesty's Ship Guardian endeavouring to escape in the boats

South-bound and down

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2013

Joanna Gilmour recounts the story of ill-fated sea voyages in the early stages of the Antipodean colony.

Queen Alexandra and Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia, Hvidore, circa 1908 by Mary Steen

The cost of living luxuriously

Magazine article by Lauretta Morton, 2005

In 1904, the Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia purchased as a gift for her sister, Queen Alexandra, a fan composed of two-color gold, guilloché enamel, mother-of-pearl, blond tortoiseshell, gold sequins, silk, cabochon rubies, and rose diamonds from the House of Fabergé in Saint Petersburg.

Washington preview

Ron Ramsey, former Director of Cultural Relations at the Embassy of Australia interviewed NPG Washington Director, Marc Pachter, about their building renovations.

Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza and David R. L. Litchfield at Villa Favorita, Lugano, Switzerland, 1989 © Nicola Graydo

The Thyssen Art Macabre

Magazine article by Peter Wilmoth, 2016

Books seldom make me angry but this one did. At first, I was powerfully struck by the uncanny parallels that existed between the Mellons of Pittsburgh and the Thyssens of the Ruhr through the same period, essentially the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

Peter Wilmoth, age 12, with copies of Our World 1974 Courtesy of the author

Paper, boy

Peter Wilmoth’s boy-journalist toolkit for antagonising an Australian political giant.

Karl Robert, Count Nesselrode, 1818 by Sir Thomas Lawrence

The Lawrence lustre

Magazine article by Angus Trumble, 2019

Angus Trumble salutes the glorious portraiture of Sir Thomas Lawrence.

Rock Island Bend. Franklin River, South West Tasmania, 1979 by Peter Dombrovskis

Written in Water

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2007

Olegas Truchanas and Peter Dombrovskis, photographers and conservationists, shared a love of photography and exploring wilderness areas of Tasmania.

Good, bad and the ugly

Michael Desmond explores what makes a portrait subject significant.

Ms Anna Burke MP, Speaker of the House of Representatives 2015 by Jude Rae

Hired guns, bounty hunters and horse whisperers

Magazine article by Jude Rae, 2016

Jude Rae contemplates the portrait commission.

Give me five

Magazine article by Karen Quinlan AM, 2021

National Portrait Gallery director Karen Quinlan AM nominates her quintet of favourites from the collection, with early twentieth-century ‘selfies’ filling the roster.

Self-portrait in white jacket , 1901-02 Hugh Ramsay

Wunderkind lost

Magazine article by Inga Walton, 2021

Inga Walton on the brief but brilliant life of Hugh Ramsay.

Miles from nowhere, 2008 (printed 2014) from the Games of consequence series 2008 Polixeni Papapetrou

Mother’s muse

Magazine article by Inga Walton, 2020

Inga Walton traces the poignant path of photographer Polixeni Papapetrou, revealed in the NGV’s summer retrospective.

Profile of a marriage

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2006

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.

Worth her salt

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2009

Jerrold Nathan's portrait of Jessie Street shows the elegant side of a many-faceted lady.

William Charles Wentworth -The Australian Patriot

The Wentworths – Hidden in Plain Sight

Magazine article by Dr Grace Blakeley-Carroll, 2015

Grace Carroll on the gendered world of the Wentworths.

Material culture

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2018

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

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.

You are who?

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2022

Joanna Gilmour reflects on merging collections and challenging traditional assumptions around portraiture in WHO ARE YOU.

Darren McDonald

Explore The Popular Pet Show

The wild balancing act of McDonald’s home décor (is that there as a joke? where do I actually sit down? is this ironic or what? what a lovely photo of Darren and Robin in Europe!) is reflected in his own personality.

Albert Jonas and John Xiniwe of The African Choir, 1891 London Stereoscopic Co.

Back in black

Magazine article by Krysia Kitch, 2017

Krysia Kitch reviews black chronicles at the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Women make history

Magazine article by Jennifer Higgie, 2022

Jennifer Higgie uncovers the intriguing stories behind portraits of women by women in the National Portrait Gallery’s collection.

Anangu landscape learning

Magazine article by Jane Raffan, 2013

Angus' initial perception of Uluru shifts, as he comes to see it as central to the entire order of Anangu life.

‘Untitled’ - Yellow Kangaroo Paw, 2008 by Christian Thompson

The 'I' in Indigenous art

Jane Raffan examines unique styles of Indigenous portraiture that challenge traditional Western concepts of the artform.

Less than six degrees of separation

Lecture, 28 May 2011

Magazine article by Natalie Wilson, 2023

Dr Anne Sanders NPG Curatorial Researcher investigated the lives of the pioneering psychologists whose portraits are featured in Inner Worlds.

A potpourri of portraits

Archie 100 curator (and detective) Natalie Wilson’s nationwide search for Archibald portraits unearthed the fascinating stories behind some long-lost treasures.

Murray frees himself from straightjacket in public, 1928 by Sam Hood

Risky business

Magazine article by John Zubrzycki, 2016

John Zubrzycki lauds the characters of the Australian escapology trade.

Out of the shadows

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2013

Joanna Gilmour profiles the life and times of the shutter sisters May and Mina Moore.

Naked ambition

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2009

Joanna Gilmour dives into the life of Australian swimming legend Annette Kellerman.

Eileen Dunne in The Hospital for Sick Children, 1940

The incomparable Beaton

Explore The Popular Pet Show

To accompany the exhibition Cecil Beaton: Portraits, held at the NPG in 2005, this article is drawn from Hugo Vickers's authorised biography, Cecil Beaton (1985).

Kristin Headlam

Basil grew into a speckled beauty – a long-legged leaper and an exceptionally vocal dog, with a great register of sounds, ascending in shock value from a whimper to a growl to a bark to a yelp that’s a violation of the ears.

Noel McKenna

Explore The Popular Pet Show

It’s a matter beyond dispute that in the entire history of Australian art, it’s Noel McKenna who’s painted the liveliest rendition of the head of a Chihuahua.

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.

The Long Awaited, 2008 by Patricia Piccinini

In the flesh

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2015

An exhibition of humanness in ten themes by Penelope Grist.

Portrait of a Pioneer , 1917
Violet Teague

Off her own bat

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2022

Joanna Gilmour profiles Violet Teague, whose sophisticated works hid her originality and non-conformity in plain sight.

History

About us

How the National Portrait Gallery and its unique collection came to be

Nicholas Harding: 28 Portraits

Exhibition essay

Magazine article by Dr David Hansen, 2017

Sarah Engledow looks at three decades of Nicholas Harding's portraiture.

Mary (or Diana) Croker, mat woman, Colchester, 1823 by John Dempsey

Unknown drawer

Dempsey’s People curator David Hansen chronicles a research tale replete with serendipity, adventure and Tasmanian tigers.

Portfolio of 54 portraits compiled by Queen Victoria, 1859–1861 by John Jabez Edwin Mayall, Camille Silvy, Frances Day and William Bambridge

Queen of cartes

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2019

Joanna Gilmour discusses the role of the carte de visite in portraiture’s democratisation, and its harnessing by Victoria, the world’s first media monarch.

Omai, Sir Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander, 1775-76

First encounters

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2011

Representations of the inhabitants of the new world expose the complexities of the colonisers' intentions.

An evening at Yarra Cottage, Port Stephens

Maria Caroline Brownrigg

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2013

At first glance, this small watercolour group portrait of her two sons and four daughters by Maria Caroline Brownrigg (d. 1880) may seem prosaic, even hesitant

The shipwright's arms

Joanna Gilmour explores the life and times of convict-turned-artist William Buelow Gould.

Some prime ministers

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2019

Sarah Engledow explores the history of the prime ministers and artists featured in the exhibition.

Helen Blaxland judging flower arrangements, c. 1940s photographer unknown

Petal to the mettle

Sarah Engledow lauds the very civil service of Dame Helen Blaxland.

Group photograph taken at the coronation of King George VI including Queen Elizabeth II, Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and the Queen Mother, 12 May 1937 by Hay Wrightson

Poise and Carats

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2016

I keep going back to Cartier: The Exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia next door, and, within the exhibition, to Princess Marie Louise’s diamond, pearl and sapphire Indian tiara (1923), surely one of the most superb head ornaments ever conceived.

Studio portrait of Lord Kitchener, British Secretary of State for War, 1914 by J Russell & Sons

All the way with K of K

Sarah Engledow bristles at the biographers’ neglect of Kitchener’s antipodean intervention.

Inner Worlds and psychoanalysis

Lecture, 4 June 2011