Search / samuel freeman

Samuel Freeman, Fisher, Son & Co London after Sir Thomas Lawrence

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009

William Lamb, Baron Melbourne, 1832

Portrait, engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Ted and Gina Gregg 2012

Freeman Brothers

James Freeman, who is credited with bringing the wet-plate photographic process to New South Wales, arrived in Sydney in 1854 to join his brother William, who had arrived the year before.

9 portraits in the collection

Cathy Freeman OAM

Cathy Freeman OAM (b. 1973) won the 400m Olympic Gold medal in front of her home crowd in Sydney in 2000 in one of the all-time great Australian sporting moments.

5 portraits in the collection

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

Sir John Hay, 1887

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on cabinet card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Cathy Freeman, 2000

David Caird

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of David Caird and Melbourne Herald Sun 2003

Alan Freeman, c. 1970 (printed 2002)

Lewis Morley

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

Cathy Freeman, 1994 (printed 2010)

Bill McAuley

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Cathy Freeman, 1994

Portrait, inkjet print on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999

Cathy Freeman, 1999

Kerrie Lester

Portrait, oil and hand-stitching on canvas

Commissioned with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 1999

Cathy Freeman, 1995

Portrait, direct positive colour photograph on paper

Gift of the artists 2003

Alan Freeman MBE, c. 1970 (printed 2002)

Lewis Morley

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2002
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Sir John Young, c. 1862

Portrait, albumen paper photograph on carte de visite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Lady Hay, 1887

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on cabinet card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Mary Windeyer, c. 1891

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on studio mount

Gift of J.B. Windeyer 2018

Captain Wilson, 1819

Freeman, T Hamilton

Portrait, Engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Ted and Gina Gregg 2012

Portrait of Professor Derek Freeman, 1996

Ralph Heimans AM

Portrait, pencil and pastel on paper

Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001

Maria Windeyer, c. 1865-1868

Freeman Brothers after Edwin Dalton

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite on brown paper studio folder

Gift of J.B. Windeyer 2018

Frances Samuel

Frances Samuel (1818-c. 1898) was a member of one of early Sydney's most significant Jewish settler families.

1 portrait in the collection

Samuel Woolf

Samuel Johnson Woolf, American painter, lithographer and illustrator, was born in New York City and named after the English essayist Samuel Johnson.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Samuel Wilson

Sir Samuel Wilson was elected to the British House of Commons in 1886.

1 portrait in the collection

Samuel Bellin

Samuel Bellin, printmaker and engraver, trained in England under James Basire the Younger before travelling to Rome, where he honed his drafting skills and made the acquaintance of JMW Turner and other artists.

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

Samuel Metford

Samuel Metford was born in Glastonbury, into a Quaker family. In England he came to specialise in full-length silhouette likenesses, cut from black paper and embellished with gold and white paint.

1 portrait in the collection

Samuel Wood

Samuel 'Sammy' Woods (1867-1931), cricketer, is one of only five men to have played Tests for both Australia and England.

1 portrait in the collection

Hon. Saul Samuel

an unknown artist, Freeman Brothers

The Hon Sir Saul Samuel Bart KCMG CB (1820-1900), merchant, politician, company director and landowner, was the first Jewish legislator in New South Wales and the first Jew to become a minister of the Crown.

1 portrait in the collection

Unconditional Love, 2006

by Samuel Khusunawi

Image

Scrapbook page featuring portraits of Fred Lowry and Frank Gardiner

Scrapbook page featuring portraits of Fred Lowry and Frank Gardiner, c. 1863

Portrait, albumen silver photographs on laid on paper with handwritten text

Purchased 2008

Sir Samuel Walter Griffith

Sir Samuel Walter Griffith (1845-1920), chief justice and premier, was born in Wales and came to Australia aged eight with his minister father and family.A top student, at the University of Sydney Griffith excelled at classics and mathematics; the Mort scholarship enabled him to travel to Europe.

1 portrait in the collection

Henry Samuel Sadd

Johnstone O'Shannessy & Co

Henry Sadd was born in London and exhibited engravings there before emigrating to the USA some time around 1840.

8 portraits in the collection

Sir Saul Samuel, c. 1870

Portrait, carte de visite photograph

Purchased 2014

Miss Frances Samuel, 1840

Maurice Felton

Portrait, charcoal heightened with white chalk on paper

Purchased 2011

Sir Sidney Kidman, 1932

Samuel Woolf

Purchased 2009

Matthew Burnett, c. 1865

Portrait, steel engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

The Hon. Sir Francis Forbes, c. 1860

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

The Hon. Sir James Dowling, c. 1860

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

The Honorable Sir Frederick Darley, c. 1887

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2007

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009

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.

Portrait of Captain Edward Riou, 1801

James Heath after Samuel Shelley

Portrait, stipple engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

a squatter (Sir Samuel Wilson), 1885

Sir Leslie Ward, Vanity Fair Magazine

Portrait, chromolithograph on paper

Gift of Mr Ronald Walker 2001

Charles Joseph La Trobe, c. 1857

Samuel Bellin after Francis Grant

Samuel Bellin after Thomas Heathfield Carrick

Purchased 2010

Lord John Russell, 1844

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

The First Ministry under Responsible Government in New South Wales

The First Ministry under Responsible Government in New South Wales, 1856

Portrait, albumen silver photograph

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009

Sammy (Samuel Wood), 1892

Henry Seppings-Wright, Vanity Fair Magazine

Portrait, chromolithograph on paper

Purchased 2010

The Right Reverend Lord Bishop of Melbourne (Dr. Charles Perry)

The Right Reverend Lord Bishop of Melbourne (Dr. Charles Perry), 1876

Thomas Atkinson, Samuel Mullen after Henry Weigall Jnr

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on cardboard

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

New South Wales State Repatriation Board

New South Wales State Repatriation Board, c. 1920

Frank Neish

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the family of FW Macpherson 2012

First High Court of Australia, c. 1903

an unknown artist

Portrait, albumen silver photograph

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

William Macleay, 1885

William Macleod after Freeman Brothers

Portrait, lithograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

William John Wills, 2nd in command of the Victorian Expedition

William John Wills, 2nd in command of the Victorian Expedition, 1860-1861

Henry Samuel Sadd, Fergusson & Mitchell, Melbourne after Thomas Adams Hill

Henry Samuel Sadd, Fergusson & Mitchell, Melbourne after Thomas Adams Hill

Purchased with funds provided by Ross A Field 2007

Robert O'Hara Burke, Leader of the Victorian Expedition

Robert O'Hara Burke, Leader of the Victorian Expedition, 1860-1861

Unknown artist Publisher Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News

Purchased with funds provided by Ross A Field 2007

'The Australian Cricketers' from The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News June 1882, page 1

Image

Lieutenant Watts, 1789

John Sherwin after Samuel Shelley

Portrait, stipple engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

The Catholic Hierarchy of Australia, 1869

Archibald McDonald, Henry Samuel Sadd

Portrait, albumen photograph on carte de visite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

MacKenzie family silhouette, 1846

Samuel Metford

Portrait, brush and ink, pen and ink, stencil cut-out with watercolour highlights on paper

Gift of the Estate of Nancy Wiseman 2007

'The Australian Cricketers' from The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News June 1882

'The Australian Cricketers' from The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News June 1882, 1882

an unknown artist

Portrait, engravings on paper

Purchased 2009

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

Ralph Heimans AM

Portrait, pencil and crayon on paper

Gift of the artist 2001

Out of the blocks

Early sporting fame

Dawn Fraser, Lionel Rose, Shane Gould and Cathy Freeman

John Lucas

John Lucas started his career as an apprentice to the engraver Samuel William Reynolds.

1 portrait in the collection

Peter O'Shaughnessy OAM

Portrait, inkjet print on paper

Peter O'Shaughnessy (1923-2013), actor and producer, has produced many Australian plays and acted the major Shakespearian tragic roles both in Australia and overseas.

1 portrait in the collection

David Clarke, 1995 (printed 2018)

Gary Ede

Purchased 2018

Peter O'Shaughnessy, 1947

Howard Matthews

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999

Reginald Jerrold-Nathan

Reginald Henry Jerrold-Nathan (1889-1979) arrived in Australia from London in 1924, having studied under John Singer Sargent and William Orpen at the Royal Academy, where he was awarded a medal for portrait painting.

2 portraits in the collection

Common ground, 2007

by Dean Sewell

Image

S Calvert

Portrait Photography from the Collection

Samuel Calvert studied in his native London with his father, engraver Edward Calvert, before emigrating to Australia in 1848.

1 portrait in the collection

In the mirror: self portrait with Joy Hester

Depth of Field

Previous exhibition, 2004

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.

Pictorial profiles of hearth and home

Nearest & Dearest

Keep it in the family

Self portrait, 1937

Harold Cazneaux

Purchased 2015

Edmund Edgar

Edmund Edgar (1804–1854), engraver and portrait painter, was convicted of robbery in London in 1825 and sentenced to transportation for life.

1 portrait in the collection

Reginald Gray

Reginald Gray (1930–2013) was a professional portraitist. Born in Dublin, he studied at the National College of Art and Design, and became a designer for the Pike and Gate Theatres in Dublin and the Lyric Theatre in London.

1 portrait in the collection

Karin Catt

Karin Catt grew up in Newcastle, where she began taking photographs of touring bands while a schoolgirl, and also in London and Hong Kong.

9 portraits in the collection

George Garrard

William Dickinson after Sir Joshua Reynolds

George Garrard ARA, born in London, trained under the animal painter Sawrey Gilpin and enrolled at the Royal Academy Schools at the end of 1778.

1 portrait in the collection

Joseph Banks Esq, 1774

Purchased 2008

Bart Willoughby

Bart Willoughby (b. 1960) is a Pitjantjantjara and Mirning singer/songwriter who is one of the Stolen Generations.

2 portraits in the collection

Portrait of Dr John Bradfield, c. 1920-1924

Reginald Jerrold-Nathan

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the family of Dr J J C Bradfield 2006
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

George Richmond

Portrait, colour digital print on photographic paper

George Richmond, son of the miniature painter Thomas Richmond, grew up in London, took early artistic instruction from his father and enrolled in the Royal Academy Schools in 1824.

1 portrait in the collection

An evening at Yarra Cottage, Port Stephens

Home is where the heart is

Nearest & Dearest

For richer, for poorer

David Moore, Max Dupain and John Gollings

David Moore, Max Dupain and John Gollings, 1980

Kate Gollings

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

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

Max Dupain, Artamon, Sydney, 1979 (printed 2000)

David Moore

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

James T. Donovan, 1892

Tom Roberts

James Caldwall after William Hodges

Purchased 2015

Omai, 1777

Portrait, copper-line engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

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

Dr Paul Scully-Power, 2005

Evert Ploeg

Purchased with funds provided by donors 2006

Dame Jean Macnamara, c. 1930

Donovan

Gift of Merran Samuel (nee Connor) 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Max Dupain OBE

Max Dupain OBE (1911–1992) was a pioneering modernist photographer.

98 portraits in the collection

Bart Willoughby, c. 2000

Penny Tweedie

Previous exhibition, 1999

Gift of the artist 2004

Glossy - Faces Magazines Now

Magazines are the portrait galleries of the 90s... Glossy is about magazines. The exhibition presents the work of eight photographers, Australian by birth or long-term residency, who are producing portraits for publication in magazines around the world.

Bart Willoughby (No Fixed Address) at 'The National Land Rights Action' march

Bart Willoughby (No Fixed Address) at 'The National Land Rights Action' march, 1982

Juno Gemes

Portrait, lithograph on paper

Gift of the artist 2021. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Gooseberry, widow of King Bungaree, 1836

William Fernyhough

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

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.

Tim Rogers (You Am I), 1995

Gift of the artists 2003

Russell Hopkinson (You Am I), 1995

Gift of the artists 2003

Andy Kent (You Am I), 1995

Previous exhibition, 2018

Gift of the artists 2003

Collection: Icons

Volume One

When a portrait communicates determination and individuality as boldly as these do, it has the potential to become an iconic image. For the Gallery’s 20th birthday this display brings together a group contemporary photographic portraits of inspiring women and men.

Portrait 68

Summer 2022/23

Magazine

Rebecca Ray on Robert Fielding’s Mayatjara series, Jennifer Higgie on Alice Neel, Elspeth Pitt chats with Yvette Coppersmith, Vincent Fantauzzo on virtual sittings with Hugh Jackman and more.

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

John Williams

Portrait, oil and hand-stitching on canvas

John Williams (1796-1839), missionary, began his working life in 1810, apprenticed to an ironmonger, but in 1814 he underwent an Evangelical conversion and became a member of the Tabernacle Church (Calvinistic Methodist).

1 portrait in the collection

Icons

Parliament House

Touring exhibition, 2019

Fred Hollows, 1993

Kerrie Lester

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

Darby McCarthy OAM

Portrait, type C Duraflex print on paper

Richard 'Darby' McCarthy OAM (1945–2020), former jockey who rode in three Melbourne Cups and won more than 1000 races, is a proud descendant of the Mithaka and Goongurri people of south-west and central Queensland.

1 portrait in the collection

Kerrie Lester, 1990

Anne Zahalka

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

George Perry

George William Perry (1824–1900) was born in London and arrived in Victoria via South Africa around 1852.

2 portraits in the collection

The Australian Cricket Team 1882

The Australian cricket team of 1882 was the third side to tour England and the team whose defeat of England at The Oval in August of that year initiated the 'The Ashes' Test series.

1 portrait in the collection

John Bradfield

John Bradfield (1867-1943), engineer, was a key figure in the development of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and inner city transport network.

1 portrait in the collection

Supporters

$5,000 - $9,999

Honour board

Hilary McPhee AO

Archived media releases 2013

Hilary McPhee AO (b. 1941), writer and editor, began her career at Meanjin before starting a small magazine, Theatre.

1 portrait in the collection

Angus Trumble National Portrait Gallery Director

National Portrait Gallery Director announced

20 December 2013

The National Portrait Gallery welcomes Angus Trumble

Richard Henry Horne, mid 1860s

Batchelder & Company Photo

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

Margaret Robertson, c. 1863

Significant Australian Women 1913–2013

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 Ladies

Previous exhibition, 2013

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

Frances Perry, c. 1863

Purchased 2012

Charles Perry, c. 1863

Portrait, albumen photograph on carte de visite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Percy, Reginald, Monty and George Faithfull, undated by Henry Dorner. Image courtesy the National Museum of Australia.

An affray which deserves particular mention

Ben Hall and his gang outdone, 6 February 1865

Bushranger Ben Hall and his cronies held around 40 people hostage in a pub north-west of Goulburn, telling their captives ‘don’t be alarmed; we only came here for a bit of fun’.

Annual Appeal

Listed by year

Honour board

Richard Read Jnr

Previous exhibition, 2010

Richard Read junior arrived in Sydney from his native London in November 1819.

2 portraits in the collection

Australian of the Year

Inspiring a Nation

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

Making Portraits

Five Years of National Portrait Gallery Commissions

Previous exhibition, 2004

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

Arthur T. Woodward

Batchelder & Company Photo

Arthur Thomas 'A T' Woodward (1865–1943), painter and art scholar, was born in Birmingham, England.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Summers, late 1860s

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

2020 Annual Appeal

Annual Appeal

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

Sir Henry Barkly, c. 1863

Portrait, albumen photograph carte de visite on card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

dumb & dumber from The Imponderable Archive, 2013 Samuel Hodge

Everything, everyqueer, all at once

Magazine article by Bradley Vincent, 2022

Bradley Vincent considers Samuel Hodge’s use of the archive to create a queer vernacular of portraiture.

Sideshow Alley

Infamy, the macabre & the portrait

Previous exhibition, 2015

Death masks, post-mortem drawings and other spooky and disquieting portraits... Come and see how portraits of infamous Australians were used in the 19th century.

Observation point

Magazine article by Shaun Gladwell, 2011

Australian artist Shaun Gladwell discusses his portraits of champion athletes.

Lady Barkly, 1863

Portrait, albumen silver carte de visite on card

Purchased 2014

2021 Annual Appeal

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.

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.

Catholic clergymen from the Diocese of Adelaide

Catholic clergymen from the Diocese of Adelaide, c. 1862

Stephen Edward Nixon

Portrait, carte de visite photograph

Purchased 2018

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.

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.

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.

Talma Studios, Sydney

Previous exhibition, 2009

Talma Studios opened in Sydney in March 1899 in a George Street premises next door to the GPO.

1 portrait in the collection

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2009

In its second year at the National Portrait Gallery, and for the first time touring to other venues, the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2009 continues to present surprising perspectives on the nature of contemporary portrait photography.

Portrait of a patron

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2007

A new painting by Jiawei Shen captures the vision and resolve of the Gallery's founder, L. Gordon Darling AC CMG.

As long as you're here, 2013 by Tony Curran

Touchy touchy

Magazine article by Tony Curran, 2015

Tony Curran ponders whether our phones can change the course of painting.

Grateful admiration and brotherly love

In the earliest stages of the Great War, the Royal Pavilion in Brighton was turned into a military hospital, and arrangements made there to accommodate the different dietary and other requirements of Hindu, Sikh and Muslim patients.

Sydney Cove medallion, 1789 by Josiah Wedgwood

The medallion

Portrait, tinted lithograph on paper

In recent years I have become fascinated by the so-called Sydney Cove Medallion (1789), a work of art that bridges the 10,000-mile gap between the newly established penal settlement at Port Jackson and the beating heart of Enlightenment England.

Sir Thomas Gore-Browne, 1864

J Walch & Sons

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Paper weight

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2022

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

Nannultera, a young cricketer of the Natives' Training Institution, Poonindie , 1854 John Michael Crossland

The catechist and the cricketer

Magazine article by Stephen Valambras Graham, 2021

Stephen Valambras Graham traverses the intriguing socio-political terrain behind two iconic First Nations portraits of the 1850s.

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.

Reflections

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2011

All that fall: Sacrifice, life and loss in the First World War exhibition co-curators Dr Anne Sanders and Dr Christopher Chapman reflect on the evolution of the Gallery’s Anzac Centenary exhibition.

More cash than dash

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

The fat of the land

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2009

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

Staffordshire bull terrier belonging to the Rev. John Gower, 1851

Essential portraiture

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2011

Michael Desmond in conversation with University of Houston professor of philosophy Cynthia Freeland.

Mural of Italian/Roman actress Anna Magnani (1908–1973) with face mask, April 2020 Unknown artist

Of plague and portraits

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2023

Corinna Cullen on the symbolic power of pandemic-related imagery over the ages.

In profile

Julian Kingma

Penelope Grist explores the photographic instinct of four-time National Photographic Portrait Prize finalist Julian Kingma.

Black tie or wombat: How formal should I go?

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2008

Michael Desmond discusses the portrait of Senator Neville Bonner by Robert Campbell Jnr.

Studio of the American & Australasian Photographic Co., Hill End, 1872

A rogue's calling card

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2008

Joanna Gilmour explores the stories behind the ninteenth-century carte de visites of bushrangers Frank Gardiner and Fred Lowry.

Monument to Mrs. Moore St. Luke’s Church, Liverpool, Sydney

Waterloo and Mrs. Moore

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2009

Beyond the centenary of the ANZAC landings at Gallipoli, a number of other notable anniversaries converge this year. Waterloo deserves a little focussed consideration, for in the decades following 1815 numerous Waterloo and Peninsular War veterans came to Australia.

In the galleries

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

The Cutmear sisters, Jane and Lucy, c. 1842

A man of superior attainments

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2013

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

No Laughing Matter

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2002

The biographical exhibition of Barry Humphries was the first display of its kind at the National Portrait Gallery.

The Triumph of Death, c. 1562 by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

The Black Death

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2012

The best horror stories are real. A flea sinks its proboscis into the skin of a sick black rat, feeds on its blood, and ingests lethally multiplying bacteria.

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.

Splendid, many-splendoured

Magazine article by Sandra Bruce, 2021

Sandra Bruce gazes on love and the portrait through Australian Love Stories’ multi-faceted prism.

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

High & Bligh

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2008

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

The life of Bryant

Magazine article by Tenille Hands, 2018

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

Getting a head

Magazine article by Alexandra Roginski, 2015

Alexandra Roginski gets a feel for phrenology’s fundamentals.

The artist and her family, c. 1854 by Martha Berkeley

Presence and absence

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2018

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

Thrown together

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2009

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

Regarding Henrys

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2015

Sarah Engledow ponders the divergent legacies of Messrs Kendall and Lawson.

Maria Caroline Brownrigg

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2022

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

Portrait Donors

Listed by year

Honour board

You are who?

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

Uncommon Australians

The vision of Gordon and Marilyn Darling

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

Nicholas Harding: 28 Portraits

Exhibition essay