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Powerful Portraits: Queen Elizabeth I of England to Queen Mary of Denmark

In association with the exhibition, Ralph Heimans: Portraiture. Power. Influence. Associate Professor, Robert Wellington discusses the enduring connection of status with painted portraits.

Ralph Heimans

The exhibition will feature some of the most significant portraits in the artist’s career to date, from early major works such as his painting of HM Queen Mary of Denmark through to his most recent.

School portraits

Inga Walton sheds light on a portraiture collection usually only seen by students and teachers at Melbourne University.

Blow Back, 2018

Gift of the artist 2024. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program.

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

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.

Terms and conditions

Terms and conditions

These terms and conditions govern entries to the National Portrait Gallery’s Darling Portrait Prize 2024.

Time and light

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.

200 Years of Portraiture

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

Privacy Impact Assessment Register

The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is required by section 15 of the Privacy (Australian Government Agencies – Governance) APP Code 2017 to maintain and publish a register of the Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) that it conducts on its website.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2023

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.

Graeme Clark

Recorded 2017

Where we fit: social policy context

There are a wide range of legislative requirements and strategies which have influenced the development of this DIAP.

Disability in Australia

The Gallery subscribes to the social model of disability that distinctively signals the difference between a person’s individual condition or impairment, and the barriers they experience which are created by the environment and society around them.

Little Darlings Youth Portrait Prize 2023

Little Darlings is for primary and secondary students, with four separate categories across Kindergarten to Year 12. Responding to the theme ‘Me and my place’, students painted, drew, photographed, printed or combined all of these to make their portrait.

Onsite visit bookings

For in person visits, make an educational booking here through our bookcanberraexcursions.com.au portal.

Some women you may not know

‘Everybody’s lives are built by so many influences, and for me, it is writers, artists and activists who have influenced how I think about the world.’

The Seekers

Recorded 2013

Alice Giles, 1984

Gift of Alice Giles AM in memory of her mother Rosemary Madigan 2023

HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark

Portrait of My Mother As An Ethno-Futurist Icon

Paper weight

Joanna Gilmour delves into a collection display that celebrates the immediacy and potency of drawing as an art form in its own right.

Off her own bat

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

Announcing... Portrait23: Identity

In this major new exhibition marking the National Portrait Gallery’s third decade, 23 Australian artists and collectives have been invited to create portraits without constraints or boundaries.

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.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2022

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.

Little Darlings Youth Portrait Prize 2022

Little Darlings is for primary and secondary students, with four separate categories across Kindergarten to Year 12. Responding to the theme ‘identity’, students painted, drew, photographed, printed or combined all of these to make their portrait.

2021 Annual Appeal

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

Favourite portraits

National Portrait Gallery staff introduce their favourite portraits from the exhibition.

Selected images

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

Take thy face hence

Joanna Gilmour travels through time to explore the National Portrait Gallery London’s masterpieces in Shakespeare to Winehouse.

Women make history

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

Weight of the Mind's Periapt

Look Whales

In Leopard Print

Mary Katatjuku Pan, 2021

Purchased with funds provided by the Annual Appeal for Contemporary Australian Photography 2022

Ken Wyatt, 2019 (printed 2020)

Purchased 2022

Beyond the bow tie

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

Give me five

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

2020 Annual Appeal

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

Mary Seacole

Self portrait, 1900

Gift of Rosemary Neilson 2021

Mary Chomley, 1909

Purchased with the assistance of funds provided by Jillian Broadbent AC 2021

The silent gardener

Queen Elizabeth I

The Capel Family

Self portrait

Henry James

Mary Neville, Lady Dacre and Gregory Fiennes, 10th Baron Dacre

King Henry VIII

Talking heads

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

Announcing.... In their own words

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

Annual Appeal

Hearts and craft

The long game

Maritime disaster leaves poignant picture

Absence rends the heart asunder

A charming prospect

Family fortunes

Memories

The second row of paintings recall stories relating to specific sites, experiences and activities.

Activating the space

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

Mother’s muse

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

Robert Klippel, c. 1990

Purchased 2020

Some prime ministers

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

Little women

Joanna Gilmour looks beyond the ivory face of select portrait miniatures to reveal their sitters’ true grit.

Prima facie

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

Off grid

Aimee Board ventures within and beyond to consider two remarkable new Gallery acquisitions.

The Royal she

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

Colour by numbers

Alistair McGhie explores the many shades of Angélica Dass’ Humanæ project.

Queen of cartes

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.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2018

Exploring select works from the NPPP 2018. For teachers of primary and secondary Visual Arts.

Flash mob

Sarah Engledow trains her exacting lens on the nine photographs from 20/20.

Keep it in the family

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

Sibly irresistible

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

The animating signature

Joanna Gilmore delights in the affecting drawings of Mathew Lynn.

Seduce, Amuse, Entertain

Michael Desmond, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2007 Prize.

Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (future Queen Elizabeth II), 1942-1943

Purchased 2019

Self portrait at 85, 1990

Gift of the late May Ralph 2019

Christmas Island

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.

Stubbs and the horse

One of the chief aims of George Stubbs, 1724–1806, the late Judy Egerton’s great 1984–85 exhibition at the Tate Gallery was to provide an eloquent rebuttal to Josiah Wedgwood’s famous remark of 1780: “Noboby suspects Mr Stubs [sic] of painting anything but horses & lions, or dogs & tigers.”

Dane reign

Mette Skougaard and Thomas Lyngby bring eloquent context to Ralph Heimans’ portraits of Crown Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark.

Material culture

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

Li Cunxin, 2017–2018

Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2018

Rosemary Dobson

Recorded 1959

Mary Gilmore

Recorded 1957

So Fine

This exhibition features new works from ten women artists reinterpreting and reimagining elements of Australian history, enriching the contemporary narrative around Australia’s history and biography, reflecting the tradition of storytelling in our country.

Kiwi magpie

Penelope Grist finds inspiration in pioneering New Zealand artist, Frances Hodgkins.

Presence and absence

The art of Australia’s colonial women painters affords us an invaluable, alternative perspective on the nascent nation-building project.

The life of Bryant

Tenille Hands explores a portrait prize gifted to the National Screen and Sound Archive.

Poise and Carats

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.

Portrait Donors

Supporters

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.

2014-15 Acquisition Fund

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

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.

2012-13 Acquisition Fund

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

The stately lotus

I spent much of my summer holiday at D’Omah, on the outskirts of Yogyakarta. Lotus and waterlilies sprout in extraordinary profusion in artful ponds amid palms and deep scarlet ginger flowers.

Ann Mary Windeyer, 1847

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Joanna Russell Maher (née Windeyer) 2018

Li Cunxin, 2018

Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2018

We are here, 2015

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2018
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Mary Windeyer, c. 1891

Gift of J.B. Windeyer 2018

William St. Leonards Robertson, c. 1869

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

William and Martha Mary Robertson and their children [William St Leonards, Eliza, John, William St Leonards on a horse, Beatrice and Ida], 1860s-1870s

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

William Robertson and Martha Mary Robertson, 1863

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

Martha Mary Robertson, 1866

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

William St Leonards Robertson and the Oxford boat race crew, early 1880s

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

Sarah and Ann Jacob, c. 1866

Purchased 2018

Catholic clergymen from the Diocese of Adelaide, c. 1862

Purchased 2018

Charles Blondin, 1874

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Steve Kilbey, 1981 (printed 2018)

Purchased with funds provided by Wayne Williams 2018

Barry Tuckwell, 1991

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of David Tuckwell 2018

Through thick and thin

Sarah Engledow likes the manifold mediums of Nicholas Harding’s portraiture.

The Rothschilds, the Montefiores, and the Victorian Gold Rush

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.

Queen Victoria

Last Sunday I had the privilege of appearing at the Canberra Writers’ Festival in conversation with Julia Baird. The subject of our session was Julia’s recent biography, Victoria the Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman who Ruled an Empire.

Nicholas Harding: 28 Portraits

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

Powerful Indigenous women

June Oscar AO lauds three iconic Aboriginal figures in the Portrait Gallery collection who have inspired and influenced her.

Big shots

Djon Mundine OAM brings poignant memory and context to Martin van der Wal’s 1986 portrait photographs of storied Aboriginal artists.

Northern exposure

Phil Manning celebrates a century of Brisbane photographic portraiture.

The art of conciliation

Gareth Knapman explores the politics and opportunism behind the portraits of Tasmania’s Black War.

Unknown drawer

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

Dempsey's people

Those of you who are active in social media circles may be aware that through the past week I have unleashed a blitz on Facebook and Instagram in connection with our new winter exhibition Dempsey’s People: A Folio of British Street Portraits, 1824−1844.

Dementia and the arts

That principle of equity of access has ever since been a noble aspiration for all public art museums, as it is for us here at the National Portrait Gallery.

The Viceroyalty of New Spain

European painters always enjoyed a good deal of latitude in the representation of angels, those asexual, bodiless, celestial regiments of God, so long as they were young and beautiful.

20 20

Sarah Engledow picks some favourites from a decade of the National Photographic Portrait Prize.

Jewelled nights

Anne Sanders celebrates the cinematic union of two pioneering australian women.

Great Scots

Diana O’Neil samples the tartan treats on offer in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

Dr J.R. Vickery, O.B.E., 1967

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the CSIRO Agriculture and Food Division 2017

Lt. A.R.Cutler VC, 1943

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Cutler family 2017
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Peter Thomson, c. 1960

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mary Thomson 2017

Terry Snow and China, 2017

Commissioned with funds provided by Dr Justin Garrick and Ms Dharini Ganesan Rasu, Mr Dino Nikias & Mrs Dimitra Nikias, Mr Jim Windeyer, Ms Claudia Hyles, Mrs Sotiria Liangis OAM and Mr John Liangis, Justice Mary Finn, Mr Bill Farmer AO and Mrs Elaine Farmer, Mr Tim Efkarpidis, Mr Bob Nattey and Mrs Charlotte Nattey, Ms Jennifer Bott AO, Mr Keith Bradley, Dr Sam Whittle and Mrs Heather Whittle 2017

Natural born stiller

Penelope Grist speaks to Robert McFarlane about shooting for the stars.

Political profiles

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.

Tribute: Mary Isabel Murphy

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

Noel McKenna

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.

Shen Jiawei

Shen Jiawei was born in China. During the Cultural Revolution he laboured in the Great Northern Wilderness, but even as he worked there, he gained recognition as an artist. 

The family scene

Traudi Allen discovers sensitivity, humour and fine draughtsmanship in the portraiture of John Perceval.

Rock art

Andrew Mayo talks to three of Australia’s most prominent and prolific music photographers — Martin Philbey, Kane Hibberd and Daniel Boud — about the challenges and inspiration behind their craft.

Portrait dendrochronology

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

All the way with K of K

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

Children of the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2016

Senses, movement and imagination in portraits of children from the 2016 Prize. For Year 1 - 3 students.

Augustus serendipitous

The London-born son of an American painter, Augustus Earle ended up in Australia by accident in January 1825. 

Past present

Krysia Kitch celebrates Oodgeroo Noonuccal.

Bill and Ted's excellent portrait.

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

Portrait of the Gallery

A design diary retrospective.

Resilience

Galarrwuy Yunupingu, Neville Bonner, Lowitja O'Donoghue, Mandawuy Yunupingu and Adam Goodes

Awesome Achievers

What makes someone awesome? And how does a portrait tell a person's story? Bring your students up close and personal with some great Australians. For upper primary school students.

The sensational denouement of the case

The 'Yarra Boot Trunk Tragedy' unfolded a week before Christmas 1898, when some neighbourhood boys noticed a wooden box floating in the river at Richmond. 

Leigh Bowery, 1984

Gift of Claudia Hyles, Dr Christiane Lawin-Bruessel, Gwenda Matthews, Gael Newton, Anne O'Hehir, Susan Smith and Dominic Thomas in memory of our friend, Robyn Beeche 2016

Getting a head

Alexandra Roginski gets a feel for phrenology’s fundamentals.

The Wentworths – Hidden in Plain Sight

Grace Carroll on the gendered world of the Wentworths.

Confessional conversations

Fiona Gruber investigates the work of Australian painter Kristin Headlam.

Sideshow Alley

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.

A feast of friends

John Singer Sargent: a painter at the vanguard of contemporary movements in music, literature and theatre.

Secure the shadow ere the substance fade

The tragic tale of Tom Wills, the ‘inventor’ of Australian Rules Football.

Life and time

Australian photographer Rod McNicol has consistently analysed the passing of time through the evidence of the photographic portrait. At once confronting and tender, McNicol’s portrait photographs are bold and intimate. 

Post digital

Tegan McAuley looks at the evolution of video portraiture.

The silent partner

One half of the team that was Eltham Films left scarcely a trace in the written historical record, but survives in a vivid portrait.

Statement from Mr Angus Trumble

Today, Mr Angus Trumble, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, expanded on his reasons for removing the photographic portrait of Indonesian President Joko Widodo from exhibition.

In the flesh

An exhibition of humanness in ten themes by Penelope Grist.

In good company

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

Virtual Excursions

Live, interactive learning programs coming soon wherever you are.

Uncommon Australians

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.

Look Within: Self-Portraiture

Self-portraits are among the most direct yet intriguing works created by artists for analysis and self-expression. As both subject and creator, the artist is represented entirely in their own terms. For primary students.

Trumble's way

At the end of a summer break one is tempted to say that there is nothing much to report. Isn’t one restful holiday very much like another?

The Demon bowler (Frederick Robert Spofforth), 1878

Purchased 2015

May Wirth, c. 1921

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Lowe Kong Meng, c. 1887

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

The Surgeon (Dr Julian Smith), 1934

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

The sculptor (George Lambert and Arthur Murch), c. 1929

Purchased 2015

George Lambert, c. 1929

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Lady Hay, 1887

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Sir John Hay, 1887

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Duchess of Cornwall and York (later Queen Mary), 1903

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Roberts 2015

Duchess of Cornwall and York (later Queen Mary), 1903

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Roberts 2015

Duchess of Cornwall and York (later Queen Mary), 1903

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Roberts 2015

Duke of Cornwall and York (later King George V), 1903

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Roberts 2015

Duke of Cornwall and York (later King George V), 1903

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Roberts 2015

Kenneth Gillespie, 2005

Purchased 2015

Rick Amor: 21 Portraits

Sarah Engledow chronicles Rick Amor's work and accomplishments in this extensive essay in conjunction with the exhibition Rick Amor: 21 Portraits.

Mortality

In Western religious art a Pietà, also called a ‘lamentation’, is an image of the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Christ.

Desert Island Discs

I agonized over the choice of four songs to take with me to the ABC Studios for Alex Sloan’s Canberra 666 afternoon program, a sort of iteration of the old BBC Desert Island Discs.

Honour board

The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges and thanks all its supporters.

The Archduke

The immediate chain of events that led to the outbreak of the First World War began 100 years ago on June 28.

Portrait of a nation

Explore portraits of those who had a Canberra suburb or street named after them. For primary students.

Architecture

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

History

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

Everybody, look serious

Dr Sarah Engledow, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2014 Prize.

Jeremiah Ware, c. 1854

Purchased with funds provided by Mary Isabel Murphy and Rosalind Blair Murphy 2014

Mary Ware, c. 1854

Purchased with funds provided by Mary Isabel Murphy and Rosalind Blair Murphy 2014

Tom Wills, c. 1857 (printed c. 1905-1910)

Gift of T S Wills Cooke 2014. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

D.A.S. Campbell (David Alexander Stewart Campbell), 1963

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Dr Mary Newlinds and Sheena Simpson in memory of their father, D.A.S. Campbell, 2014

Out of the shadows

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

Earth to earth

Dr Sarah Engledow discusses the recent gift of works by David Campbell.

The shipwright's arms

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

Louise Whelan

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.

First Ladies

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

Someone to watch over you

Carrie Kibbler looks at how portraiture fits into the Australian Artbank Collection.

Go Figure!

Claire Roberts interviews Swiss art collector Uli Sigg.

Listomania

Sarah Engledow describes the fall-out once Brett Whiteley stuck Patrick White’s list of his loves and hates onto his great portrait of the writer.

Hot Scots

James Holloway describes the first portraits you encounter when entering the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

A man of superior attainments

Joanna Gilmour explores the life of a colonial portrait artist, writer and rogue Thomas Griffiths Wainewright.

What price self?

Jane Raffan investigates auction sales of self portraits nationally and internationally.

Elegance in Exile

Taking a selection of works from our 2012 exhibition Elegance in Exile: Portrait drawing from colonial Australia, this resource aims to introduce the lives of subjects and artists, provide an insight into colonial times in Australia, encourage close examination of portraits and explore how portraits can be used as primary historical documents. For primary students.

Portrait School

Here’s where your students will discover Australia’s most creative and innovative thinkers and achievers.

Mr John Eason, 1838

Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family 2013

Portrait of Harriet Swan, c. 1842

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG and Marilyn Darling AC 2013

Portrait of Julia Swan, c. 1842

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG and Marilyn Darling AC 2013

Reverend William Bedford junior, c. 1846

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2013

Therese Desmond, 1919-1920

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Madeleine Howell 2013

George Molnar, 1983

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

The first Australian first-class cricket team to tour England and North America, 1878

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

Rosemary, 2006

Mary, 2006

Chinese Art

A short overview of modern Chinese art from 1949 to the present.

The 1780s to the 1840s

Eighteenth century men differed from those of the preceding centuries in their preference for beardlessness.

Inner Worlds and psychoanalysis

Inner Worlds evokes a broad view of psychology as a discipline. However, the specific interests of the practitioners whose portraits are included in the exhibition incorporate specialist areas including psychoanalysis.

Less than six degrees of separation

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

Faces of war

Lesley Harding, Curator, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne explores Albert Tucker’s experience of World War II, his interests in the intersection between psychology and creativity, and their influence on his portrait making.

The art of Inner Worlds

Dr Christopher Chapman NPG Curator of Inner Worlds explains the development of an exhibition that spans from Surrealism to contemporary art.

Melati Suryodarmo

Born in Surakarta (Solo), Indonesia in 1969, Melati Suryodarmo’s first degree was in international relations.

Herra Pahlasari

At the time of Herra Pahlasari’s birth in 1978, her academic parents were living in Canberra.

Alwar Balasubramaniam

Born in 1971 in Tamil Nadu, Southern India, Alwar Balasubramaniam's sculptures, prints and installations challenge our perceptions while creating forms for the invisible and the intangible.

Princess Mary

Artist Jiawei Shen describes the symbolism in his portrait of HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark.

Portrait 18

This issue of Portrait Magazine features Daddy Cool, HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, the exhibition Glossy 2, Aldo Giurgola, Fiona Wood and more.

The importance of being bearded

Joanna Gilmour discovers that the beards of the ill-fated explorers Burke and Wills were as epic as their expedition to traverse Australia from south to north.

Mind and body

Christopher Chapman interviews photographer Nikki Toole about her bold and controlled portraits of skateboarders in the exhibition Skater.

Emblems of beauty

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

Vanity fair

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

Frances Perry, c. 1863

Purchased 2012

Jacques Miller, 2012

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

David Low, 1917

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Lan Wang, Xini, Jiawei Shen and Billy, 2010

Purchased 2012

Prue Acton, 2012

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

A G Stephens, c. 1910 (printed later)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Fay Bottrell, 1981

Gift of Elizabeth Campbell-MacKenzie on behalf of the family of David Campbell 2012

Mary Windeyer on the verandah at Tomago, NSW, c. 1880s

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Windeyer family 2012

Jane Windeyer, n.d.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Windeyer family 2012

Of Kings and men

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

More cash than dash

Joanna Gilmour describes how colonial portraitists found the perfect market among social status seeking Sydneysiders.

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.

Empire records

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

Beyond the Self

This exhibition examines the representation of the self in current South and Southeast Asian art practice through the work of artists from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines and Thailand

The inner voice

Dr Christopher Chapman, curator of Inner Worlds: Portraits & Psychology looks at Albert Tucker's Heidelberg military hospital portraits.

Sea legged frogs

Joanna Gilmour describes some of the stories of the individuals and incidents that define French exploration of Australia and the Pacific.

Aborigines at Oyster Cove, Tasmania, 1858 (printed 1890s)

Purchased 2011

Fiona Stanley, 2011

Commissioned 2011

Sir William Deane 2008, 2008

Purchased 2011

William St Leonards Robertson, c. 1865

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

Martha Mary Robertson with her child William St Leonards Robertson, c. 1865

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

Study for painting commission portrait of Fiona Stanley, 2010

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned 2011

Observation point

The Australian painter Ben Quilty discusses his approach to portraiture.

The God-shaped hole

Exploring the photographs of Martin Schoeller, Michael Desmond delves into the uneasy pact that exists between celebrity and the camera.

Suave

Charles Haddon Chambers the Australian-born playboy playwright settled permanently in London in 1880 but never lost his Australian stance when satirising the English.

The Saint and the merchant

Emanuel Solomon gave shelter to the Sisters of St Joseph upon the excommunication of St Mary MacKillop.

Doodles of the Diva

Three tiny sketches of Dame Nellie Melba in the NPG collection were created by the artist who was to go on to paint the most imposing representation of the singer: Rupert Bunny.

Husbands and Wives

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

Poison pen

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

Private virtues public lives

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

Edward Knox, c. 1855

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

Keith Laught, 1951

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Mary Shedley, Mrs Christine Moriarty, Mrs Josephine Lawrence and Mrs Helen Beare 2010

Admiral Bligh, 1801

Purchased 2010

Enrico Taglietti, c. 1985

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Larry Sitsky, 1971

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Larry Sitsky and Magda Sitsky 2010

Right Rev Dr Lawrence Bonaventure Sheil OSF, c. 1872

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Cardinal Moran, 1886-1888

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Neil Armfield, 2010

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned 2010

Fits of delicacy and despair

Henry Mundy's portraits flesh out notions of propriety and good taste in a convict colony.

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.

Through blue eyes

Works by Arthur Boyd and Sidney Nolan bring the desert, the misty seashore and the hot Monaro plains to exhibition Open Air: Portraits in the landscape.

Speed demon

Scott Redford discusses his dynamic portrait commission of motorcycling champion and 2008 Young Australian of the Year Casey Stoner.

Sure thing

Blue Mountain, Owner, Trainer, Jockey, James Scobie 1887 by Frederick Woodhouse Snr. is a portrait of James Scobie, well known jockey and eminent horse trainer.

National Youth Self Portrait Prize

An annual event, the National Youth Self Portrait Prize seeks to encourage young people to embrace self portraiture and its expressive possibilities.

The fat of the land

Sir Sidney Kidman (1857-1935) is inscribed in Australian legend as the ‘Cattle King’. 

Thrown together

Shipmates for years, James Cook and Joseph Banks each kept a journal but neither man shed light on their relationship.

Handing on the baton

Michael Desmond explores the life of ballerina Irina Baranova through the portrait by Australian artist Jenny Sages.

Mary Windeyer, 1850s

Gift of the Windeyer family 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Elizabeth Henrietta Fitzgerald (née Rouse), c. 1850

Gift of Pamela Glasson 2009
Collected by Leila Haigh (nee Rouse)

Mary Hassall (née Rouse), c. 1850

Gift of Pamela Glasson 2009
Collected by Leila Haigh (nee Rouse)

Mary Hassall (née Rouse), c. 1850

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Pamela Glasson 2009
Collected by Leila Haigh (nee Rouse)

William Charles Windeyer, c. 1857

Gift of the Windeyer family 2009

Jiawei Shen, 2006

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

My Favourite Australian

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

High & Bligh

Joanna Gilmour explores the 1790 portrait of William Bligh by Robert Dodd.

Moving in creative circles

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.

Public hanging

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

Dr HV Evatt, Albert Namatjira and Dame Mary Gilmore having a meal, c. 1950s

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2008

Melodrama..., c. 1900

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Ruby, Norman, Pearl, Percy, Reg, Bill Dyson and Mary in Creswick garden, c. 1899

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Marcie Elizabeth Wilson, 1922

Gift of the Simpson family in memory of Caroline Simpson OAM 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

William Charles Wentworth, 1854

Gift of the Simpson family in memory of Caroline Simpson OAM 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

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

Purchased with funds provided by the Ian Potter Foundation 2008

Seduce Amuse Entertain

Michael Desmond profiles a handful of the entrants in first National Photographic Portrait Prize and notes emerging themes and categories.

All there in black and white

The National Portrait Gallery acquired a beguiling silhouette group portrait by Samuel Metford, an English artist who spent periods of his working life in America.

Be bold

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.

Painting writing

Dr Sarah Engledow explores the portraits of writers held in the National Portrait Gallery's collection.

Prime number

Diana Warnes discusses the portrait of the Australian mathematician Terence Tao.

Sidney Kidman and Arthur Triggs, c. 1914

Purchased with funds provided by The Ian Potter Foundation 2007

Disillusion self portrait, 1983

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Robin MacQueen 2007

Crikey!

Robin Sellick captured a rare moment of quietude from the late conservation star Steve Irwin.

Why do painted portraits still matter?

Lecture by Sandy Nairne, Director, National Portrait Gallery, London, given at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra on 28 April 2006.

The painter and the princess

Michael Desmond interviews Ralph Heimans about his portrait of Crown Princess Mary of Denmark.

Self Creation

Former National Portrait Gallery Director, Andrew Sayers recalls meeting iconic Australian artist Sidney Nolan.

Australian Visit

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.

Portraits for Posterity

Drawn from some of the many donations made to the Gallery's collection, the exhibition Portraits for Posterity pays homage both to the remarkable (and varied) group of Australians who are portrayed in the portraits and the generosity of the many donors who have presented them to the Gallery.

Australian visit in Denmark

In April 2006 the National Portrait Gallery showcased Australian portraits at the Fredenksborg Castle in Denmark. 

Giving and getting

The exhibition Portraits for Posterity celebrates gifts to the Gallery, of purchases made with donated funds, and testifies to the generosity and community spirit of Australians.

Sir Charles Court and Richard Court, 2006-2007

Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC 2006

Glenn Murcutt, 2006

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Rosemary and Robert Walsh 2006

L. Gordon Darling AC CMG, 2006

Purchased with the assistance of funds provided by the Mundango Charitable Trust and Claudia Hyles 2006

Aborigines, the last of the race, Tasmania, c. 1866

Purchased 2006

Australian Princess

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

Friends and Acquaintances

Dr. Sarah Engledow discusses a collection of drawings and prints by the Victorian artist Rick Amor acquired in 2005.

The world of Thea Proctor

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.

Study for commissioned portrait of HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark (full-length study), 2005

Commissioned with funds provided by Mary Isabel Murphy 2005

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

Commissioned with funds provided by Mary Isabel Murphy 2005

Study for commissioned portrait of HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark (full-length study), 2005

Commissioned with funds provided by Mary Isabel Murphy 2005

Portrait of HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, 2005

Commissioned with funds provided by Mary Isabel Murphy 2005

Mr King (Bernard King), c. 1979

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

John Perceval, 1985

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

John Perceval, 1985

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

Canadian identities

An exploration of national identity in the Canadian context drawn from the symposium Face to Face at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 2004.

Life class

Barbara Blackman reflects on her experiences as a life model.

The Multifarious Career of George Selth Coppin

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

To Look Within

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

Making Portraits

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

Schulim Krimper, 1968

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2004

Rosemary Madigan, 1992

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

Rosemary Valadon, 1995

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

A Singular Line

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

Australians in Hollywood

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

Headspace 4

Facing Memory: Headspace 4 provides us with valuable insights into the thoughts, creative processes and art-making practices of secondary students from Year 7 to Year 12 from sixty-two schools in the Australian Capital Territory, regional New South Wales and Victoria

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.

Presence and Absence

This exhibition focuses on exploring national and communal identity through sculptural production in Australia, from the early decades of settlement through to the present day

Max Dupain

During his long and distinguished career Max Dupain took thousands of photographs of people

The spirit of the gift

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

Vintage Max

Gael Newton delves into the life and art of renowned Australian photographer, Max Dupain.

Portrait of George Selth Coppin, c. 1895-1899

Purchased with funds provided by Mary Isabel Murphy 2004

John Perceval, 1999

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Thomas de Kessler 2001

John Richard Tindale, 1841

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003

Mary Tindale, 1841

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003

Portrait of Elizabeth Jolley, 2003

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2003

Rosemary Dobson, 1981

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

Marcia Hines, c. 1981

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

Dame Mary Gilmore, 1961

Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

Mary MacQueen, 1990

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

On commission

Former NPG Director Andrew Sayers discusses the art of commissioning portraits.

Intimate Portraits

Intimate Portraits is an exhibition of paintings, drawings and prints that explore the less public side of portraiture

The Demon bowler (Frederick Robert Spofforth), 1878

Purchased 2002

Professor A D Hope, Canberra, 1963 (printed 2000)

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

Mary McCarthy, New York, 1956 (printed 2000)

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

Dame Mary Gilmore, c. 1938

Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2001

Heads of the People

For Tom Roberts - Australia's best nineteenth-century portrait painter - neither a proto-national portrait gallery nor more popular collections of portrait heads, were sufficient public celebrations for the notables of Australian history

Ned Kelly death mask, date unknown

Collection: National Portrait Gallery Study Collection, Canberra
Gift of John Molony 2018

Portrait of Ruth Cracknell as the Sibyl, 1995

Purchased 2000

A Tribute to William Dobell

Adapted from A Tribute to William Dobell an exhibition presented by the Australian National University's Drill Hall Gallery in association with the Sir William Dobell Art Foundation, The National Gallery of Australia, and the Australian War Memorial. Dobell is of course, celebrated for his achievements in portraiture, winning the Archibald prize (1943, 1948 and 1959), the Wynne Prize (1948), and representing Australia at the 1954 Venice Biennale. Curator Mary Eagle concludes her essay in the catalogue of the exhibition thus, "Overall I see a dissonance in Dobell’s art and life

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.

Sketch for Prime Minister Robert Menzies, 1960

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 1999

Rev. Fred Nile, Festival of Light, Sydney, 1981

Purchased 1999

Mary, Botany Bay tribe, 1836

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Dr Robert Edwards AO 1999
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

HV (Doc) Evatt, 1935

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

Basil P. Bressler

Basil Philip Bressler, who died in 2000, was a surveyor with an amateur interest in art and music.

Erica, 2018