Search / thomas cook

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Gina and Ted Gregg 2010

Thomas Cook

Portrait drawings from colonial Australia

Thomas Cook produced portraits for the Gentleman's Magazine and frontispieces for book publishers, as well as a number of single plates in different genres for Boydell.

1 portrait in the collection

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.

Thomas Sutcliffe Mort and his wife Theresa

Thomas Sutcliffe Mort and his wife Theresa, c. 1847

an unknown artist, Thomas Wharton

Portrait, daguerreotype in a pinchbeck case

Purchased 2001

Samantha Cook

Samantha Cook is a Nyikina woman from the north-west Kimberley region of Western Australia who is based between Los Angeles and Australia.

1 portrait in the collection

Yassmin Abdel-Magied, 2017

by Adrian Cook

Magazine article by Robert Cook, 2018

Snap decisions

NPPP judge Robert Cook provides irreverent insight into this year’s fare, and having to be a bit judgemental.

The Bushranger Tragedy (from The Australasian Sketcher, 23 November 1878)

The Bushranger Tragedy (from The Australasian Sketcher, 23 November 1878), 1878

an unknown artist, The Australasian Sketcher

Portrait, wood engraving on paper

Purchased 2003

Captain Cook's Tablet at Cape Solander, Botany Bay, New South Wales

Captain James Cook RN

James Cook (1728-1779), maritime explorer, surveyed and claimed the east coast of Australia on the first of his three great voyages of discovery in the Pacific.

12 portraits in the collection

Billy Cook and Pride of Egypt, 1954

Ern McQuillan OAM

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2004

Samantha Cook, c. 2000

Penny Tweedie

Gift of the artist 2004

Kylie and Nell

Adrian Cook

Portrait, white on blue Jasper Ware in oval shaped wood and gilt frame

Jasperware medallion of Captain James Cook

Jasperware medallion of Captain James Cook, 1779

Wedgwood and Bentley

Purchased with funds provided by Robert Oatley AO 2007

Portrait of Captain James Cook RN, 1782

John Webber

'The photojournalists of their time'

Purchased by the Commonwealth Government with the generous assistance of Robert Oatley AO and John Schaeffer AO 2000

Captain Cook

An exploration of the role of artists such as John Webber who, whilst a member of Cook’s crew over many voyages, created paintings and drawings of the situations and people the explorers encountered.

The Royal Society medal in commemoration of Captain James Cook

The Royal Society medal in commemoration of Captain James Cook, 1784

Lewis Pingo

Portrait, silver medal

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Robert Oatley AO 2007

The hand of Captain Cook

Google Arts and Culture

Learning resources

Take a close look at a portrait with a hidden message in its hands. For Year 7 – 9 students.

Le Cap.ne Jacques Cook, Membre de la Société Royale des Londres

Le Cap.ne Jacques Cook, Membre de la Société Royale des Londres, c. 1778

Robert Bénard

An interview with Betty Churcher

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Gina and Ted Gregg 2010

'The portraits of Captain Cook'

G E. Madeley after John Lhotsky

Betty Churcher describes the creation of the portrait of Captain James Cook in the National Portrait Gallery.

Captain Cook's Tablet at Cape Solander, Botany Bay, New South Wales, 1839

Francis Jukes after John Cleveley

Purchased 2018

View of Owhyhee in the Sandwich Islands in the south Seas (The Death of Cook)

View of Owhyhee in the Sandwich Islands in the south Seas (The Death of Cook), 1787-1788

Portrait, aquatint, hand coloured on paper

Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family 2012

Captain James Cook, engraving after John Webber

Captain James Cook, engraving after John Webber, 1784

Francesco Bartolozzi after John Webber

Magazine article by Diana Warnes, 2007

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Robert Oatley AO 2007

Cook in context

Robert Oatley's continuing benefaction has helped the National Portrait Gallery acquire works that add another layer to the story of Captain Cook.

Capturing Cook

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2003

In focussing on the importance of gifts in the building of the collection, prominence must be given to the most spectacular of the National Portrait Gallery's acquisitions; the portrait of Captain James Cook RN by John Webber R.A.

Cook, n.d.

an unknown artist after Antoine Maurin

Portrait, engraving, hand coloured on paper

Gift of Ted and Gina Gregg 2012

The Quiet Australian

Magazine article by Brian Dale, 2001

Robert Oatley talks about the repatriation of the John Webber portrait of Captain James Cook.

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.

The Death of Captain Cook, 1784

Francesco Bartolozzi, William Byrne after John Webber

William Holl, Fisher, Son & Co London after Nathaniel Dance

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Robert Oatley AO 2007

Captain James Cook, 1837

William Holl, Peter Jackson, London & Paris after Nathaniel Dance

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

Captain James Cook from the original in the Naval Gallery, Greenwich Hospital

Captain James Cook from the original in the Naval Gallery, Greenwich Hospital, c. 1837

Previous exhibition, 2011

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

David M Thomas

Dream Job

Since 1993 Brisbane-based artist David M Thomas has investigated self identity through art works that encompass painting, text, audio, video and performance.

Andy Thomas

'When I grow up I want to be an astronaut'

An interview with Australian astronaut, Dr. Andy Thomas, who describes the experience of space travel.

Thomas Atkinson

Thomas Lewis Atkinson (1817-c. 1890) is described in the Benezit Dictionary of Artists as 'one of the shining representatives of English engraving'.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas Pennant

Thomas Pennant (1726-1798), Welsh traveller, antiquary, naturalist, and author, visited Joseph Banks in September 1771, shortly after Banks returned from his voyage with Cook on the Endeavour.

1 portrait in the collection

Avril Thomas

Avril Thomas (b. 1956), artist, was born in Malaysia and went to boarding school in Scotland and Australia.

2 portraits in the collection

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

Gubbo Thomas

Guboo Ted Thomas (1909–2002), land rights activist, was a tribal Elder of the Yuin nation and grew up on the Wallaga Lake Reserve near Narooma.

1 portrait in the collection

Andy Thomas AO

Andy Thomas AO (b. 1951) is an astronaut. Born and educated in Adelaide, an engineer by profession, he managed a number of aeronautical programs and patented several inventions before joining NASA in 1992.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas Phillips

Thomas Phillips was born in Dudley, Warwickshire and initially trained as a glass painter before moving to London, aged 20, with a letter of introduction to the painter Benjamin West.

6 portraits in the collection

Thomas Lord

Thomas Daunt Lord (1783–1865) was the commandant of the convict station on Maria Island from 1825 until 1832.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas Buddle

Thomas Buddle (1812-1883), Wesleyan missionary, worked for 42 years in New Zealand, ministering to Maori and colonists in the Waikato, Auckland and the south.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas Muir

Thomas Muir (1765-1799), lawyer, political activist and political convict, began studies at the University of Glasgow at the age of twelve.

2 portraits in the collection

Thomas Bock

Thomas Bock, artist, printmaker and photographer, is believed to have been born at Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham, in 1790.

3 portraits in the collection

Delegates to the Constitutional Convention, Sydney 1891

Hon. Thomas Playford

The Hon. Thomas Playford was a delegate from South Australia to the Constitutional Convention, Sydney, 1891.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas Woolner

Thomas Woolner, sculptor, studied first with the brothers Henry and William Behnes, painter and sculptor respectively, and later at the Royal Academy, at which he was to become professor of sculpture in his fifties.

5 portraits in the collection

Thomas Keneally AO

Thomas Keneally (b.1935), author and republican activist, has achieved a considerable reputation for the breadth and accessibility of his writing, and his passion for causes about which many Australians feel deeply.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas J. Washbourne

Thomas J Washbourne worked as a photographer in Geelong and Melbourne in the 1860s and 70s.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas de Kessler

Thomas de Kessler, artist, came to Australia from Hungary in 1950. Born into an academic and creative family, he spoke several languages and had attended art school before arriving in Melbourne.

3 portraits in the collection

Thomas Clark

Thomas Clark, teacher and painter, arrived in Victoria from England in about 1852, having been anatomical draftsman at King's College London and headmaster of the Birmingham School of Design.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas Purves

Thomas Purves (1909-1969), known as Tam, founded the Australian Galleries in Smith Street, Collingwood, Melbourne with his wife Anne in 1956.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas Pearce

Thomas Pearce (c. 1860-1909) was an apprentice on the English merchant vessel the Loch Ard, which embarked for Victoria in March 1878 carrying 37 crew and 16 passengers, many from the Carmichael family.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Thomas Lawrence

Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) was one of the leading portrait painters of the Georgian era.

8 portraits in the collection

Thomas Brassey

Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey (1836–1918), politician and governor, studied law and modern history at Oxford, but abandoned law for a career in politics two years after being called to the Bar.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas McIntyre

A police party comprising Sergeant Kennedy and Constables Lonigan, Scanlan and McIntyre was dispatched to capture the Kelly gang in 1878.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas Lonigan

A police party comprising Sergeant Kennedy and Constables Lonigan, Scanlan and McIntyre was dispatched to capture the Kelly gang in 1878.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas Keneally part 1

Recorded 1967

Thomas Keneally part 2

Recorded 1967

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Sir Thomas Lawrence

Portrait, pen and ink on paper

Self portrait, 1971

Thomas de Kessler

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Diana de Kessler 2009

Artist David M Thomas lists some of the ideas and influences behind his video portraits.

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

Thomas Heathfield Carrick

Thomas Heathfield Carrick, miniature painter, grew up in Carlisle, where he trained and traded as a chemist, painting miniatures in his spare time.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas Griffiths Wainewright

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

4 portraits in the collection

Thomas Herbert Maguire

Thomas Herbert Maguire was a painter and lithographer working in London in the middle of the nineteenth century.

4 portraits in the collection

Thomas Foster Chuck and Son

Thomas Foster Chuck (c. 1826-1898) specialised in photographing well-known colonists, many of whom featured amongst the 700 photographs in his huge mosaic The Explorers and Early Colonists of Victoria.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas James Lempriere

Portrait, etching on paper

Thomas Lempriere came to Tasmania in 1822, received a land grant and became a founding shareholder of the Bank of Van Diemen's Land.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas White, midshipman, c. 1838

John Kay

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Thomas Sutcliffe Mort

Thomas Sutcliffe Mort (1816-1878) was a merchant, shipbuilder, wool broker and pioneer of the technique of freezing meat for export.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas Mackdougall Brisbane

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

Thomas Joseph Carr

Thomas Joseph Carr (1839–1917) was the second Catholic archbishop of Melbourne, the successor to James Alipius Goold.

2 portraits in the collection

Thomas Foster Chuck

Thomas Foster Chuck (1826-1898), photographer and entrepreneur, was born in London and arrived in Victoria in 1861.

4 portraits in the collection

Thomas Henry Huxley

Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895) travelled to Australia as a member of the expedition conducted by Owen Stanley on the Rattlesnake between 1846 and 1850.

2 portraits in the collection

Thomas Wentworth Wills

Portrait, inkjet print on rag paper

Thomas Wentworth (Tom) Wills (1836–1880), is popularly thought of as the co-inventor of Australian Rules football.

2 portraits in the collection

Rover Thomas, 1986

Martin van der Wal

Purchased 2005

Thomas Muir of Huntershill, 1838

John Kay

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Thomas Wentworth Wills

by Nat Thomas & Concettina Inserra

Portrait of mother (after Mirka), 2008

The Explorers & Early Colonists of Victoria

The Explorers & Early Colonists of Victoria, 1872

Portrait, composite albumen photograph on paper

Purchased 2018

Daniel Thomas, 1987

Judy Cassab AO CBE

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mr Peter Kampfner 2013
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Thomas Christensen, 2006

by Mark Rogers

Major Thomas Lord, c. 1840

Portrait, inkjet print on paper

Purchased 2015

Andy Thomas, 2002

Montalbetti + Campbell

Commissioned with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2002

Thomas Woolner, c. 1865

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

Reverend Thomas Buddle, 1863

Batchelder & O'Neill

Thomas Woolner in Australia

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Missing Persons

Desperately seeking Woolner medallions

John Thomas "Jack" Lang

John Thomas Lang (1876–1975) served two terms as premier of New South Wales in the 1920s and 1930s.

5 portraits in the collection

Thomas Keneally, 1987

Bernd Heinrich

Portrait, stipple engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2005
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Thomas Pennant, c. 1790

William Ridley

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Thomas Muir, 1800

François Bonneville

Portrait, fibre-tipped pen on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Thomas Leech, n.d.

Louis Kahan AO

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Lily Kahan 2017
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Thomas Fitzherbert Hawkins, c. 1790

Portrait, oil on cotton laid down on cardboard

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter E.B. Mansell 2018

Thomas Simson Pratt, c. 1863

Batchelder & O'Neill

Portrait, ink, coloured pencil, gouache, crayon and fibre-tipped pen on double layer mount board with gold coloured ink border

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

The Last of the Angry Penguins - John Perceval, 1999

Thomas de Kessler

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Thomas de Kessler 2001

Portrait of Sir Joseph Banks, c. 1814

Thomas Phillips

Magazine article by Dr Anne Sanders, 2010

Purchased 2011

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.

Jessie Robertson, c. 1849

Thomas Bock

Portrait, pencil, chalk and gouache on paper

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

Jessie Whyte, c. 1840

Thomas Bock

Portrait, pastel and chalk on paper laid down on cotton over Cedar strainer

Purchased 2017

Portrait of Tam Purves, 1958

John Brack

Portrait, ink, coloured pencil, gouache, crayon and fibre-tipped pen on single mount board with gold coloured ink border

Purchased 2012

John Perceval, 1999

Thomas de Kessler

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Thomas de Kessler 2001

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.

William Charles Wentworth, 1854

Portrait, cast bronze relief medallion

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

Queen Susan, c. 1868

Thomas J. Washbourne

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on paper laid on cardboard

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Sir Charles Nicholson, 1854

Portrait, cast bronze relief medallion

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased through the Foundation Acquisitions Fund 2015

Jack Lang

Recorded 1967

Thomas Townshend, Lord Viscount Sydney

Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney PC (1733-1800) was British Home Secretary in the Pitt Government, given responsibility for devising a plan to settle convicts at Botany Bay.

1 portrait in the collection

Thomas Stange Heiss Oscar Asche

Portrait, tinted lithograph on paper

Thomas Stange Heiss Oscar Asche (1871–1936), actor, director and producer, was one of Australia’s most successful theatre exports.

2 portraits in the collection

Sir Thomas Gore-Browne, 1864

J Walch & Sons

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Thomas Wentworth Wills, c. 1859

Portrait, 1/2 plate ambrotype with applied colour in a double elliptical brass matt in a leather case

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

Thomas Henry Huxley, c. 1870

Maull & Co Photographers

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

Archbishop Thomas Joseph Carr, c. 1886

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Thomas Joseph Carr, Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, c. 1887

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on cabinet card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Lockdown dreaming II

John Morley, Madelin Bronar-Thomas and

N Schiavonetti after Thomas Phillips

Portrait of Sir Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society

Portrait of Sir Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society, 1812

Portrait, line engraving on paper

Purchased 2010

Phillip Parker King, 1854

Portrait, cast plaster

Purchased 2000

Edward Paine Butler, c. 1845

Portrait, watercolour, gouache and pencil on paper

Purchased 2009

Portrait of Henry Hopkins, c. 1845

Portrait, watercolour on paper

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2013

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

Portrait of His Excellency Sir Henry Barkly, Governor of Victoria

Portrait of His Excellency Sir Henry Barkly, Governor of Victoria, c. 1864

Thomas Clark

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2010

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by The Ian Potter Foundation 2007

Poison pen

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

Charles Joseph La Trobe, 1853

Portrait, cast bronze relief medallion

Purchased 2006

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.

Ellen Stirling, c. 1828

Thomas Phillips

Purchased with funds provided by the Ian Potter Foundation 2008

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

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on grey paper on card

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

Bishop James Moore, c. 1888-1889

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Robert Brown, 1850

Thomas Herbert Maguire

Charles Fox after Sir Thomas Lawrence

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

Alexander MacLeay, c. 1845

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Sir Edward Eyre Williams, 1872

Portrait, albumen silver photograph, hand coloured on paper

Gift of Ross and Judy O'Connell 2016

South Australian Illustrated (Plate 35), 1847

George French Angas, Thomas McLean

Thomas Foster Chuck and Son

Dr James Moorhouse, 1878-1879

Thomas Stewart after Jean Laurent Mosnier

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Chevalier d'Éon

C E. Wagstaff after Thomas Phillips

Sir Joseph Banks, 1840s

Portrait, pencil, pen and ink on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Gina and Ted Gregg 2010

Jack Lang, 1931

Tom Glover

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Thomas Pearce, c. 1878

The Photographic Society of Victoria, Melbourne

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite on card

Purchased 2010

The Final Frontier

Magazine article by Magda Keaney, 2002

Magda Keaney talks with Montalbetti+Campbell about their photographic portrait of Australian astronaut Andy Thomas.

Lt. Genrl. the Rt Honble. Sir George Murray G.C.B., G.C.H. &c.

Lt. Genrl. the Rt Honble. Sir George Murray G.C.B., G.C.H. &c., 1838

John Cochran after Sir Thomas Lawrence

Portrait, fibreglass and resin

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Jack Lang, life mask, n.d.

Arthur Murch

Purchased 2000

Jack Lang, 1970

Adam Martin

an unknown artist after Thomas Bock

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Elsie Martin 2000

Jane Franklin, c. 1866-1875

Portrait, carved marble relief

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

The people's champion, Mr Lang, c. 1927

Portrait, cast plaster, painted

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

Her Excellency Marjorie Jackson-Nelson AC CVO MBE

Her Excellency Marjorie Jackson-Nelson AC CVO MBE, 2006

Avril Thomas

Portrait, charcoal on paper

Commissioned 2006

Preparatory study for Her Excellency Marjorie Jackson-Nelson AC CVO MBE

Preparatory study for Her Excellency Marjorie Jackson-Nelson AC CVO MBE, 2005

Avril Thomas

Commissioned 2006

Martha Sarah Butler, c. 1845

Portrait, watercolour, gouache and pencil on paper

Purchased 2009

Captain W Kinghorne, 1834

Thomas James Lempriere

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2010

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by The Ian Potter Foundation 2007

Fine and dandy

Whether the result of misadventure or misdemeanour, many accomplished artists were transported to Australia where they ultimately left a positive mark on the history of art in this country.

Jack Lang, c. 1930-1940

George Finey

Portrait, collage of coloured paper, pencil on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

William Henry Harvey, c. 1850

Thomas Herbert Maguire

Thomas Herbert Maguire, M & N Hanhart

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

John Gould, 1849

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

William Jackson Hooker, 1851

Thomas Herbert Maguire

an unknown artist after Thomas Murray

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

William Dampier, c. 1780

Frederick Bromley after Robert Frain

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, 1842

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2006

Purchased with funds provided by Ross A Field 2008

Pre-Raphaelite Profile

In 2006 the National Portrait Gallery acquired a splendid portrait of Victoria's first governor, Lieutenant Governor Charles Joseph La Trobe by Thomas Woolner.

Reverend William Bedford junior, c. 1846

Portrait, watercolour on paper

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

Lord John Russell, 1844

Samuel Bellin after Thomas Heathfield Carrick

an unknown artist, D Bogue after Thomas Phillips

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

Captain Sir John Franklin, Kt, KCH, KRG, DCL, FRS & c. Commander of the Arctic Expedition, 1845

Captain Sir John Franklin, Kt, KCH, KRG, DCL, FRS & c. Commander of the Arctic Expedition, 1845, c. 1847

Carlo Pellegrini, Vanity Fair Magazine

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

Men of the Day No.19 "A great Med'cine-Man among the Inqui-ring Redskins" (Thomas Henry Huxley), 1871

William Evans, Anthony Cardon after Sir Thomas Lawrence

Purchased 2015

Sir Joseph Banks, 1810

Purchased with funds provided by the Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Society Canberra 2000

Spikes: then and now

Thomas Atkinson, Samuel Mullen after Henry Weigall Jnr

As part of its ongoing program of commissions of portraits of prominent Australians, the National Portrait Gallery has unveiled a portrait of Her Excellency Marjorie Jackson-Nelson by South Australian artist Avril Thomas.

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

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

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

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

William Lamb, Baron Melbourne, 1832

Thomas Woolnoth, Charles Knight

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

La Perouse, from a miniature in the possession of La Perouse's niece at Alby

La Perouse, from a miniature in the possession of La Perouse's niece at Alby, n.d.

James Faed, W Wilding after John Watson Gordon

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

General Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, 1850 (published)

Carlo Pellegrini, Vincent Brooks, Day & Son, Vanity Fair Magazine

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

Round the World (Thomas Brassey), 1877

Purchased 2015

The Burke and Wills Monument, 1869

Portrait, albumen paper photograph on carte de visite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Lord Viscount Sydney, c. 1790

John Young after Gilbert Stuart

London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Oscar Asche, c. 1905

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on cabinet card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool

Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, 1827

Charles Turner after Sir Thomas Lawrence

Magazine article by Mette Skougaard and Thomas Lyngby, 2018

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, 2006 Ralph Heimans AM

Dane reign

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

Rt. Honourable Lord Hawkesbury, 1808

Edward Scriven, J B Ball & J DeCamp after Sir Thomas Lawrence

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

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

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

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

Alick Ritchie, Vincent Brooks, Day & Son, Vanity Fair Magazine

Purchased with funds provided by Ross A Field 2007

Kismet (Mr Oscar Asche), 1912-1913

Thomas Woolnoth, William Mackenzie, Glasgow, Edinburgh, London & New York

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

La Perouse, 1830s

Portrait, albumen silver photograph

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

The First Ministry under Responsible Government in New South Wales

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

Freeman Brothers

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009

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

Unknown artist Publisher Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News

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

Henry Meyer, T Cadell & W Davies after Sir Thomas Lawrence, William Evans

Portrait, daguerreotype

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

The Rt Hon. Henry Robert Stewart, Lord Viscount Castlereagh, MRIA & FRS

The Rt Hon. Henry Robert Stewart, Lord Viscount Castlereagh, MRIA & FRS, 1814

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2004

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

Tiny Trace of a Colonial Giant

At just 7.8 x 6.2 cm, the daguerreotype of Thomas Sutcliffe Mort and his wife Theresa is one of the smallest works in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery.

Woburn Sheepshearing, 1811

Thomas Morris, M N. Bates, Joseph C. Stadler after George Garrard

Portrait, aquatint with stipple and etching and engraving, hand coloured on chine colle on paper laid down on cotton stretched over wooden strainer

Purchased 2018

Thomas and John Clarke, bushrangers, photographed in Braidwood Gaol

Thomas and John Clarke, bushrangers, photographed in Braidwood Gaol, 1867

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on laid down on a section cut from a nineteenth century album page

Purchased 2019

Burnum Burnum and Guboo Ted Thomas, 1984

Juno Gemes

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, selenium toned on paper

Purchased 2004

Robert Earl of Buckinghamshire (Hobart), 1808

Robert Dunkarton after Sir Thomas Lawrence

Magazine article by Stuart Purves, 2016

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Bonfire of the vanities

Australian Galleries Director Stuart Purves tells the story of two portraits by John Brack.

Henry Bathurst, Earl Bathurst, 1810

Henry Meyer after Thomas Phillips

Portrait, soft ground etching on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Painting writing

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2007

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

'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, Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News

Portrait, engravings on paper

Purchased 2009

Delegates to the Constitutional Convention, Sydney 1891, 1891

Portrait, engravings on paper

Purchased 2009

Rowan Thomas, 2015

by Graham Caughley

Thomas from series Bois to Men, 2014

by Monique Montfroy

Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel

Sir Peter Paul Rubens

an unknown artist after Sir Joshua Reynolds

Portrait of Dr John Hawkesworth, c. 1770

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family 2018

Captain James King

James King (c. 1750-1784), naval officer, was born in Lancashire and educated at Clitheroe Grammar School before entering the navy in 1762.

1 portrait in the collection

John Webber

When John Webber R.A. (c. 1752-1793), the son of a Swiss sculptor, living in London, submitted his work to the Royal Academy Schools, one of the first to admire his paintings was Dr Daniel Solander, the Swedish naturalist who had accompanied Cook and Banks on the first voyage.

5 portraits in the collection

Lawrence Daws

1 portrait in the collection

Ignatius Jones, Jimmy and the Boys. Captain Cook Uni Bar, 30 December 1979

'pling

Ignatius Jones, Jimmy and the Boys. Captain Cook Uni Bar, 30 December 1979

'pling

Jimmy and the Boys, Captain Cook Uni Bar, 30 December 1979. (Ignatius Jones - vocals)

'pling

She saved his life. He showed her painting.

Nearest & Dearest

Leaders, painters, friends

Wedgwood and Bentley

William Daniell after George Dance

Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795), potter and industrialist, became an apprentice to his potter brother, Thomas, at an early age.

1 portrait in the collection

William Hodges RA, 1808 (dated 1810)

Portrait, etching on paper

Purchased 2010

Captain James King, engraving after Webber, 1784

Francesco Bartolozzi after John Webber

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Robert Oatley AO 2007

Omai

Portrait, coloured chalk and black ink on artist board

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

Sir Ernest Thomas Fisk, 1943-1944

Charles Wheeler

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2019

Lewis Pingo

Lewis Pingo was an engraver at the Royal Mint. Pingo's father Thomas, an Italian-born medallist and die engraver, was one of the founders of the Royal Academy in 1768.

1 portrait in the collection

Daniel Solander

Daniel Solander (1733-1782), naturalist, was a student of Carl Linnaeus, the Swede who devised and systemised the classification of plants and animals used today.

3 portraits in the collection

Johnny, 2006

by Sean Hobbs

James Caldwall after William Hodges

Omai, 1777

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

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

A head for business and a heart for love

Lust

For love, not money

Theresa Mort

Theresa Shepheard Mort (née Laidley, 1820-1869), colonial spouse, was one of eight children of civil servant James Laidley and his wife Eliza Jane (née Shepheard).

2 portraits in the collection

Portrait of Dr Johann Reinhold Forster and his son George Forster

Portrait of Dr Johann Reinhold Forster and his son George Forster, c. 1780

Jean Francois Rigaud

December 2001 - February 2002

Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family, the Ian Potter Foundation and John Schaeffer AO 2009

Portrait 2

This issue of Portrait Magazine features David Moore, Midnight Oil, Dr Joan Croll by John Brack, the acquisition of the Captain Cook portrait, and more.

Sir Henry Barkly

An interview with former National Portrait Gallery Director, Andrew Sayers, who describes the portrait of Sir Henry Barkly by Thomas Clark.

Jacob Nash

Jacob Nash (born 1982) is a Daly River artist and designer and was Head of Design at Bangarra Dance Theatre between 2010 and 2023, working on over 20 productions.

2 portraits in the collection

Queenie McKenzie Nakara

Queenie McKenzie (c. 1930–1998) was a prominent Gija artist in the East Kimberley painting movement.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait 31

March - May 2009

This issue features the new National Portrait Gallery building, James Cook and John Banks, Cate Blanchett, Irina Baranova, Annette Kellerman, Shepard Fairey and more.

The last bushrangers

It's Complicated

Brothers in harms

Second thoughts, 2008

by Brad Mitchell

Susan Lord, c. 1840

Purchased 2015

Robert Bénard

Robert Bénard engraved, or directed the engraving of, at least 1800 plates for Diderot's groundbreaking Encyclopédie, published between 1751 and 1772.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait 61

Summer 2018/19

Max Dupain's unknown portrait subjects, phrenologist Madame Sibly, Indigenous-European relationships, Thomas Gainsborough and more.

William Hodges

Portrait, inkjet print on rag 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

Paddy Jaminji, 1986

Martin van der Wal

Purchased 2005

Sir Joseph Banks, c. 1788

John Raphael Smith after Sir Benjamin West

Purchased 2010

Mr Robert Oatley AO

Robert Oatley AO (1928–2016), businessman, was one of Australia’s most successful wine industry figures.

Dr Solander, 1772

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

New South Wales State Repatriation Board

Arthur Vernon

Arthur Vernon was the general secretary of the United Labourers’ Protective Society, a delegate to the Sydney Labour Council, a member of the Eight Hours committee, and a Labour alderman of the city for Cook ward.

1 portrait in the collection

Edward Henty, late 19th century

Previous exhibition, 2020

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Tim Clark 2018

Ngalim-Ngalimbooroo Ngagenybe

Shirley Purdie

Using ochres collected on her country in Western Australia’s East Kimberley, Shirley Purdie’s self-portrait is a kaleidoscope of traditional Gija stories and Ngarranggarni (Dreaming) passed down to her.

Gav & Ray, 2007

by Richard Walker

Maggie Beer AO and Del Kathryn Barton

In Conversation

Watch

Join us with Maggie Beer AO, cook restaurateur and businesswoman and Del Kathryn Barton, artist, in celebration of the National Portrait Gallery's most recent commissioned portrait, Maggie, 2023 by Del Kathryn Barton.

Queenie McKenzie Nakara, 1997

Greg Weight

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

Dowling family portrait [Selina, Jane, Leura and Elizabeth (Bessie) Dowling]

Dowling family portrait [Selina, Jane, Leura and Elizabeth (Bessie) Dowling], c. 1862

Francesco Bartolozzi after Nathaniel Dance

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

Omai, A Native of Ulaietea, 1774

Purchased with funds provided by Robert Oatley AO 2007

Maria Dowling and her children Leura, Bessie, Selina, Jane, Jack, Ben and Joe Dowling [Selina Dowling, Jane Dowling, Maria Jane Dowling (née Ware), John Ware Dowling, Joseph Dowling, Benjamin Dowling, Elizabeth (Bessie) Dowling, Leura Dowling]

Maria Dowling and her children Leura, Bessie, Selina, Jane, Jack, Ben and Joe Dowling [Selina Dowling, Jane Dowling, Maria Jane Dowling (née Ware), John Ware Dowling, Joseph Dowling, Benjamin Dowling, Elizabeth (Bessie) Dowling, Leura Dowling], c. 1859

Portrait, ambrotype, hand coloured

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

Portrait of a young man, held to be John Robertson

Portrait of a young man, held to be John Robertson, c. 1852

Portrait, daguerreotype, hand coloured

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

William Barak

Valentine Green after Johann Zoffany

John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, c. 1774

September - November 2002

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Portrait 5

This issue of Portrait Magazine features Bill Leak's portrait of Robert Hughes, Polly Borland's photographs, Bill Brandt, Andy Thomas, Tracey Moffatt and more.

Maria Jane Dowling, c. 1862

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 (standing) beside an unidentified man

William St Leonards Robertson (standing) beside an unidentified man, 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

Leura Dowling, c. 1861

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

Portrait 35

March - May 2010

This issue features suspected poisoner and portrait artist Thomas Wainewright, Rick Amor, Chuck Close, Mick Dodson, Scott Redford, the National Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition and more.

The Hon. James Whyte, c. 1874

John Hubert Newman

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

Maggie Beer AO

Portrait, eight carte de visites, hand coloured, contained in a red leather presentation case

Maggie Beer AO (b. 1945) is a cook, restaurateur, businesswoman and media personality.

1 portrait in the collection

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

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

Various

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

1967, 2019

Dave Laslett

Sarah Siddons (née Kemble)

John Downman

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

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

Various

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

Stephanie Alexander AO

Stephanie Alexander AO (b. 1940), cook, restaurateur, food writer and philanthropist, has been a major influence on Australian food and culinary culture for 50 years.

1 portrait in the collection

John Chapman

Little is known of John Chapman, who engraved fine allegorical subjects after the designs of J Smith and Richard Corbould and worked closely with Thomas Macklin on his Shakespeare series.

2 portraits in the collection

Johann Reinhold Forster

Johann Reinhold Forster (1729-1798), German/Scottish naturalist and writer, began his career as a pastor near Danzig.

1 portrait in the collection

Alexander Dalrymple

Alexander Dalrymple (1737-1808), hydrographer and writer, began work with the East India Company in Madras in 1752.

1 portrait in the collection

Kenneth Binns

Recorded 1967

Shirley Purdie

Shirley Purdie (b. 1947) is a senior Gija artist at the Warmun Art Centre who has been painting for more than twenty years.

1 portrait in the collection

Paquita Mawson, late 1940s

Ingrid Erns

Gift of Gareth Mawson Thomas and Pamela Karran-Thomas of the Mawson family 2010. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Martha Knox, c. 1855

Portrait, oil on canvas laid on board

Portrait, daguerreotype

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

Douglas Mawson, 1933

Henry James Haley

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Gareth Mawson Thomas and Pamela Karran-Thomas of the Mawson family 2010
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Portraits for Posterity

Previous exhibition, 2006

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.

Sir Benjamin West

Benjamin West (1738-1820), an American painter, arrived in England in 1763 after a Grand Tour in Italy and soon won acclaim.

1 portrait in the collection

Antoine Maurin

Antoine Maurin, lithographer, is little known. He was born in Perpignan, France, and died in Paris.

6 portraits in the collection

The great South Sea caterpillar transformed into a Bath Butterfly (Sir Joseph Banks)

The Bath Butterfly

The caricaturist and engraver James Gillray's biting satires about Sir Joseph Banks.

Moses Griffith

Moses Griffith, topographer, draftsman, watercolourist and engraver, spent his life in the service of Thomas Pennant, antiquarian and amateur naturalist; although engaged as a servant, he was employed by Pennant as a full time artist from 1771.

1 portrait 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

François Jacques Dequevauvillier

François Jacques Dequevauviller was the son of the French engraver Nicolas-Barthelemy François Dequevauviller (1745–1807).

1 portrait in the collection

Lieutenant John Watts

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2011

Lieutenant John Watts (1755-1801) joined the Navy in 1770 and embarked with James Cook in 1776 on the fatal voyage of the Resolution.

1 portrait in the collection

In a good paddock

Celebrating a new painted portrait of Joseph Banks, Sarah Engledow spins a yarn of the naturalist, the first kangaroo in France and Don, a Spanish ram.

Dave

Jay Hynes

John T. Barber

John Thomas Barber, army officer, insurer, miniaturist and philanthropist, took the additional name of Beaumont in 1812.

1 portrait in the collection

Paul Hester

Paul Hester (1959–2005), musician and former drummer for Crowded House, was born in Melbourne.

2 portraits in the collection

John Williams

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

Peter Russell-Clarke

Peter Russell-Clarke, cook, started his career as a freelance cartoonist, working for advertising agencies in Australia and overseas.

1 portrait in the collection

Robert T. Carter

Robert Thomas Carter (1843–1917) was a leading Sydney cabinetmaker and furniture warehouseman, and later an antique dealer.

2 portraits in the collection

Eleanor Wingate

Eleanor Wingate (née Rouse, 1813–1898) was the second youngest daughter of colonial public servant and landowner Richard Rouse (1774–1852) and his wife Elizabeth (née Adams, 1772–1849), who’d come to Sydney as free settlers in 1801.

1 portrait in the collection

Edward Riou

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

2 portraits in the collection

Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Captain Charles Ulm

Sir Charles Kingsford Smith MC AFC

Captain Moonlite et al on trial for murder

Sir Charles Kingsford Smith MC AFC (1897- last seen 1935) and Captain Charles Ulm (1898-last seen 1934) together founded Australian National Airlines.

3 portraits in the collection

Andrew George Scott, alias Captain Moonlite, c.1879 attributed to Charles Nettleton

Diseased curiosity

Archived media releases 2015

Just after 10.00 o'clock on 3 December 1879, four prisoners were brought from their cells at Darlinghurst Gaol and placed in the dock of a courtroom heaving with agitated spectators

Welcome home, Captain Bligh

27 March 2015

The National Portrait Gallery will, next Tuesday, unveil an exciting new acquisition of irrefutable importance to all Australians. Portrait of William Bligh, in master’s uniform c. 1776, attributed to John Webber, is one of the earliest portraits of the contentious, historical figure, and extends the Gallery’s remarkable collection of early colonial portraits.

Portrait 59

Autumn 2018

Sir Leslie Ward, Vincent Brooks, Day & Son, Vanity Fair Magazine

NPG Washington director Kim Sajet on the Obama portraits, Sarah Ball’s Immigrants, judging the NPPP, Frances Hodgkins, and Picnic at Hanging Rock.

a Traveller (2nd Baron Lamington), 1892

Purchased 2015

Peter Russell-Clarke

Recorded 2022

Eleanor Wingate (née Rouse), c. 1850

Portrait, hand coloured photograph

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

Picture this...

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2003

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.

George Mealmaker

George Mealmaker (1768–1808), convict and activist, became involved in radical politics in his native Dundee in the 1780s.

1 portrait in the collection

Wainburranga

Wainburranga (Paddy Fordham) (c. 1932-2006), Rembarrnga painter, sculptor, printmaker and dancer, lived in the bush before moving to Maranboy, where he first saw white people.

1 portrait in the collection

Babette Hayes, London, early 1960s

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Sir William Beechey

Sir William Beechey, portrait painter and pupil of Johann Zoffany, was greatly influenced by Sir Joshua Reynolds.

1 portrait in the collection

Henry Reynolds

Portrait, wood engraving (Baxter print) on paper

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

Reverend John Williams, c. 1837

George Baxter

Purchased 2012

Charles Wallace Alexander Napier Cochrane-Baillie

Charles Wallace Alexander Napier Cochrane-Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamington (1860–1940) had served four years in the House of Commons before being appointed governor of Queensland in October 1895.

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

Neville and Jill Wran - as the Duke and Duchess of Sydney (with apologies to Piero della Francesca)

Jill Hickson Wran AM

Jill Hickson Wran AM (b. 1948) graduated from the University of Sydney and then worked for Qantas.

1 portrait in the collection

Stephanie Alexander AO, 2023

Tsering Hannaford

Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2023

First Australian first-class cricket team

The ‘first Australian first-class cricket team to tour England and North America’ was in fact the second Australian cricket side to contest matches internationally (a team of Indigenous players having done so in 1868), but it is considered the first official national representative team to tour overseas.

1 portrait in the collection

N Schiavonetti

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2003

Luigi Schiavonetti, Italian reproductive engraver and etcher, studied art for several years before being employed by an engraver named Testolini to execute imitations of Bartolozzi's works, which Testolini passed off as his own.

1 portrait in the collection

In the National Interest

Sir James Hardy AO OBE

Sir James Hardy OBE (1932-2023) was a wine industry executive, yachtsman and community leader.

1 portrait in the collection

Margaret Fulton, 1980 (printed 2002)

Archived media releases 2018

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

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2018 winner announced

23 March 2018

Finalists have been eagerly awaiting the announcement of the Winner and Highly Commended for the National Photographic Portrait Prize since December. It is our pleasure to announce the Winner for 2018 is Lee Grant for her portrait titled Charlie and Highly Commended has been awarded to Filomena Rizzo for her portrait titled My Olivia.

Mr and Mrs R. T. Carter, c. 1863

Milligan Bros (Studio)

Portrait, ambrotype, hand coloured on glass plate with black paint backing

Gift of Mr and Mrs James Bain 2000. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

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

Anne Boyd AM

Anne Boyd AM (b. 1946), composer and teacher, was born in Sydney and studied composition with Peter Sculthorpe at the University of Sydney before earning a PhD at the University of York.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Asher Joel

Pierre Langlume after Jacques Etienne Victor Arago

Sir Asher Joel (1912-1998), public relations entrepreneur and state politician, started out as a copyboy at Sydney’s Daily Telegraph.

1 portrait in the collection

'Timbere sauvage de la nouvelle galles du sud en grand costume (Relache au Port Jackson)'

'Timbere sauvage de la nouvelle galles du sud en grand costume (Relache au Port Jackson)', 1822

Portrait, inkjet print on rag paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

The Hinders: doyens of Australian modernism

Passion

Progressive partnership

Wainburranga (Paddy Fordham), 1986

Martin van der Wal

Purchased 2005

The mystery of Enoch Arden

Portrait, oil on composition board

Tennyson's Enoch Arden was inspired by a story that Thomas Woolner passed on to him – but whose story and of whom?

Self portrait, c. 1930

Percy Leason

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Anton Cook 2009

Centenary of ANZAC

Portrait, inkjet print on canvas

Just now we pause to mark the centenary of ANZAC, the day when, together with British, other imperial and allied forces, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed at Gallipoli at the start of the ill-starred Dardanelles campaign.

Paul Hester, 1987 (printed 2021)

Alan Mitchell

Gift of the artist 2021

Jean-François de Galaup La Perouse

Jean-François de Galaup la Pérouse, Comte de la Pérouse (1741-1788), navigator, joined the French navy as a boy, rising to the rank of captain and serving with distinction and humanity in campaigns against the English in Hudson Bay in 1782.

4 portraits in the collection

Lewis Morley, 2003

Sage

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003

Henry Reynolds, 2012

Dave Tacon

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Portrait 60

Spring 2018

Anne Zahalka Portraits 1987-2007

Ralph Heimans on his portraits, and features on Louis Kahan, Helena Rubinstein, Judy Cassab and Tasmanian convicts.

Hall of Mirrors

Previous exhibition, 2007

Hall of Mirrors: Anne Zahalka Portraits 1987-2007 explores the thread of portraiture through the artist's prolific career, now spanning more than 20 years.

Tom Hughes AO KC

William Daniell after George Dance

Hon Thomas Hughes AO KC (1923-2024), 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

Sir Joseph Banks, 1811

Portrait, soft ground etching on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

Bonita Mabo

Bonita Mabo AO (c. 1943–2018), South Sea Islander reconciliation activist, was the widow of Torres Strait Islander land claimant Eddie Mabo.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir George Fisher CMG

Jean Coutant after Jacques Etienne Victor Arago

Sir George Fisher CMG (1903-2007), mining industry executive, began work at the Zinc Corporation at Broken Hill in 1925 after having completed a mining engineering degree in Adelaide.

1 portrait in the collection

Nlle. Holland Port Jackson: Sauvages des environs de Sydney: Nani, Taran, Abinghou, Broten, Timbere

Nlle. Holland Port Jackson: Sauvages des environs de Sydney: Nani, Taran, Abinghou, Broten, Timbere, 1825

Portrait, line engraving on paper

Purchased 2015

Sir James Balderstone

Sir James Balderstone (1921-2014) was chairman of BHP from 1984 to 1989.

1 portrait in the collection

Ethel Anderson and her daughter, Bethia, c. 1912

G.W. Lawrie

Gift of Mrs SM Asplin 2011

Nude self portrait, 1977

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

Anne Boyd, 1977

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

Sydney Cove medallion, 1789 by Josiah Wedgwood

The medallion

Magazine article by Kate Fullagar, 2019

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.

Rethinking foundational histories

A focus on Indigenous-European relationships underpins Facing New Worlds. By Kate Fullagar.

Sir Joseph Banks, Bt

Sir Joshua Reynolds

Fred Schepisi AO

Fred Schepisi AO (b. 1939), film producer and director, briefly trained to be a priest before working in advertising.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir James Hardy, c. 1975 (printed 2002)

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2009

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

To the end of the earth

The portrait of Dr. Johann Reinhold Forster and his son George Forster from 1780, is one of the oldest in the NPG's collection.

Paul Kelly and The Portraits

Previous exhibition, 2013

Aspects of singer songwriter Paul Kelly’s performance persona are communicated by portraits selected from a range of artists and leading music photographers in this focus exhibition.

Sir Eugene Goossens

Sir (Aynsley) Eugene Goossens (1893-1962) was an English conductor, composer and violinist.

2 portraits in the collection

Michael Boddy

Portrait, pencil on paper

Michael Boddy (1934–2014), writer and actor, was born in England and educated at Cambridge before arriving in Australia as a 'ten quid migrant' in 1960.

2 portraits in the collection

Sir Asher Joel, n.d.

Louis Kahan AO

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Lily Kahan 2017
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

James Heath

Magazine article by Sharon Peoples, 2017

James Heath commenced an apprenticeship with an engraver named Joseph Collyer at the age of fourteen.

2 portraits in the collection

Unbuttoning uniforms

Sharon Peoples contemplates costumes and the construction of identity.

Neil Perry, 1997

Selina Snow

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Gift of the artist 1999

R O'Hara Burke, c. 1861

De Gruchy & Leigh

Purchased 2009

William John Pickett Bedford

Portrait, watercolour and gouache on paper

William John Pickett Bedford (1805–1869) was the eldest of three children of Anglican clergyman, William Bedford (1781–1852), and his wife, Eleanor, and came to Van Diemen’s Land with his family in 1823 following the appointment of his father to a chaplaincy in the colony.

1 portrait in the collection

Theresa and James Laidley Mort, 1844

William Nicholas

Gift of the Mort family 2009

William John Wills, c. 1861

De Gruchy & Leigh

François Bonneville after Joseph Jauffret

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Nicolas Baudin, Capitaine de Vaisseau. Commandant I'Expedition pour le tour du Monde et Specialement relatif aux Sciences et auz Arts, entreprise en I'An gme, 1800

Nicolas Baudin, Capitaine de Vaisseau. Commandant I'Expedition pour le tour du Monde et Specialement relatif aux Sciences et auz Arts, entreprise en I'An gme, 1800, 1800

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Fred Schepisi, c. 2000

Kate Gollings

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2004

Charles Darwin

John Collier

Eugene Goossens, c. 1954

Max Dupain OBE

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003

Who is Lillie Roberts?

Devotion

Talented wife for a talented husband

Elizabeth Sarah Ellen Carter

Elizabeth Sarah Ellen Carter (née Hill, 1845-1927) was one of the eight children born to Sydney cabinetmaker and undertaker John Hill jnr and his wife Elizabeth - the step-daughter of ex-convict boatman, John Cadman.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Hewitt

Born in Lincolnshire, Charles Hewitt (1837–1912) had begun working in Melbourne by 1860 and was one of the founding members of the Photographic Society of Victoria.

3 portraits in the collection

Peter Skrzynecki OAM

Of Polish/Ukrainian descent, Peter Skrzynecki was born in 1945 in Germany and came to Australia with his parents in 1949.

1 portrait in the collection

John Schaeffer AO - art collector and philanthropist

John Schaeffer AO - art collector and philanthropist, 2014

Evert Ploeg

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

Purchased with funds provided by Harold Mitchell AC 2015

Margel and Tarquin, Canberra, c. 1945

Frank Hinder

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by the Ross family in memory of Noel and Enid Eliot 2014

Lewis Morley

Lewis Morley (1925–2013) established his reputation as one of the key British photographers of the 1960s and is known for his iconic image of a nude Christine Keeler straddling an Arne Jacobsen chair.

50 portraits in the collection

Nicholas Baudin

Nicolas Thomas Baudin (1754–1803), cartographic surveyor and naturalist, was sent by the French government to survey the coast of Australia in 1800.

1 portrait in the collection

Nam Le, 2010

Rozalind Drummond

Purchased 2010

Nam Le

Nam Le (b. 1978), writer, came to Australia as a baby with his Vietnamese refugee parents.

1 portrait in the collection

Arthur T. Woodward

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

1 portrait in the collection

Frederick Cato, 1932

W B McInnes

Gift in memory of Frederick John Cato Kumm 2011. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

George Richmond

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

Henry Mundy

Artist Henry Mundy arrived in Van Diemen’s Land in 1831 and took up a position as teacher of drawing, French and music at Ellinthorp Hall, a school near Ross established ‘with a view to the improvement of Young Ladies’.

4 portraits in the collection

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

Hans Eworth

Eugene Goossens, c. 1954

Max Dupain OBE

Gift of Danina Dupain Anderson 2017. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Sir Joseph Banks, 1802

William Ridley

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Gina and Ted Gregg 2010

C.H.T. Costantini

Charles Henry Theodore Costantini (also Constantine, Constantini and Costantine) was a Paris-born surgeon of Italian descent who was twice transported to the Australian colonies in the 1820s.

1 portrait in the collection

To coin a (farewell) phrase

Devotion

A penny for their thoughts

Self portrait in reflection, 1973

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

Francis Nixon

Francis Russell Nixon (1803-1879) photographer, artist and Anglican clergyman, arrived in Hobart in 1843 to take up the role of Bishop of Tasmania.

2 portraits in the collection

Martha Mary Robertson, 1866

Portrait, albumen photograph on carte de visite

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

Ben Chifley, n.d.

Max Dupain OBE

Gift of Danina Dupain Anderson 2017. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Piper, the native who accompanied Major Mitchell in his expedition to the interior of N.S.W.

Piper, the native who accompanied Major Mitchell in his expedition to the interior of N.S.W., 1836

William Fernyhough

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

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

Paul Kelly, 2007

Peter Brew-Bevan

Previous exhibition, 2006

Gift of the artist 2012

Famous

Karin Catt Portraits

Australian photographer Karin Catt has photographed world leaders, a host of rock stars and Oscar-winning compatriots Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, and Cate Blanchett.

Sir Joseph Banks KCB

Joseph Banks KCB (1743-1820), naturalist, grew up on his father's Lincolnshire estate, Revesby, but his lifelong interest in botany developed at Eton and Oxford.

13 portraits in the collection

William St Leonards Robertson and the Oxford boat race crew

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

Hills & Saunders

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

Wesley Stacey

Wesley Stacey (1941–2023), photographer, was an apprentice silk screener and studied drawing and design at East Sydney Technical College in the early 1960s before working as a graphic designer and photographer in Sydney and London.

3 portraits in the collection

Thomas Archbold, Durham, 1826 by John Dempsey

Street fare

Portrait, oil on canvas (diptych)

The late Georgian and early Victorian working classes often bought their food in ale-houses, chop-houses and ‘penny pie shops’, or purchased their meals day after day in the streets.

Neville and Jill Wran - as the Duke and Duchess of Sydney (with apologies to Piero della Francesca), 1983

Frank Hodgkinson

Gift of Mrs Kate Hodgkinson 1999. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Sir Richard Owens

Previous exhibition, 2002

Sir Richard Owen (1804–1892), naturalist, anatomist and palaeontologist, was born in Lancaster and apprenticed to surgeon-apothecaries there before completing his studies in medicine in Edinburgh and London.

1 portrait in the collection

Headspace 3

Being Me

The self-portrait enables students to explore emerging and changing aspects of their own identity, their sense of self, their place in the world, their experience of being human

Alex Kolozsy

Alex Kolozsy left his native Transylvania for Hungary as a small child.

1 portrait in the collection

Martha Kermode, c. 1840

Purchased 2008. The original frame for this work was donated to the National Portrait Gallery of Australia by the National Gallery of Victoria 2009.

Robert Kermode, c. 1840

Purchased 2008. The original frame for this work was donated to the National Portrait Gallery of Australia by the National Gallery of Victoria 2009.

Wendy Sharpe, 2000

Greg Weight

Portrait, albumen photograph on carte de visite

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

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

A & G Taylor

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013

Lady Mary Hay

Lady Hay, née Chalmers (c. 1806-1892) was reported at the time of her death to have been about ten years older than Hay.

1 portrait in the collection

William Bligh

Portrait, natural ochre and pigments on canvas (36 parts)

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

Ngalim-Ngalimbooroo Ngagenybe, 2018

Shirley Purdie

Purchased 2019

Ethel Anderson

Ethel Anderson (née Mason, 1883-1958), writer and artist, was an important figure in the Sydney modern art scene of the 1920s and 30s.

2 portraits in the collection

Joan Kerr

Joan Kerr (1938-2004), art historian, writer and lecturer, was responsible for several key reference texts on Australian art.

1 portrait in the collection

Charles Abraham

Charles Abraham, son of a London architect, trained at the Royal Academy schools under the sculptor Sierier, and for a further three years in Paris and Rome.

1 portrait in the collection

Wendy Sharpe

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on cabinet card

Wendy Sharpe undertook art studies in Sydney between 1978 and 1984 and held her first solo exhibition at the Nicholson Street Gallery in 1985.

3 portraits in the collection

Portrait of Henry Kendall, c. 1890-1894

S. Milbourn Jnr

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Wilfred John Peisley

Wilfrid John Peisley, born in Bathurst, won a number of prizes at regional shows before gaining a scholarship to the East Sydney Technical College at the age of seventeen.

1 portrait in the collection

Seeing stars

Celebrating Science Week

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2009

It has been suggested that Sir Thomas Brisbane’s interest in the New South Wales governorship was as attributable to his passion for astronomy as to the desirability of the position as a prestigious career move.

In the galleries

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

Kim Bonython in his Sydney Gallery with work on exhibit by Col Jordan

Kym Bonython

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2006

Hugh Reskymer 'Kym' Bonython AC DFC AFC (1920-2011), company director, art dealer, jazz authority, music promoter and speedway entrepreneur, was one of the most significant collectors and dealers of contemporary Australian art in the post-war period.

2 portraits in the collection

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.

Jules Poret de Blosseville

Jules Poret de Blosseville (1802-1833), geographer, navigator and explorer, was a junior officer on the Coquille, which, under the command of Louis Isidore Duperrey, conducted a voyage to Oceania and South America between 1822 and 1825.

1 portrait in the collection

Frederick Cato

Frederick Cato (1858-1935), grocer and philanthropist, was born in a tent at Pleasant Creek (Stawell), to the Scottish wife of an English gold miner.

1 portrait in the collection

Aldershot Cavalry (Major General Reginald Talbot)

Hon. Sir Reginald Talbot KCB

The Hon Sir Reginald Talbot KCB (1841-1929), army officer and English MP, was governor of Victoria from April 1904 to July 1908.

1 portrait in the collection

Henry Kendall

Henry (Thomas Henry) Kendall (1839-1882) was once regarded as the finest poet Australia had produced.

1 portrait in the collection

Tom Durkin

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2009

Thomas Coleman Durkin trained at the Williamstown School of Design and started work in Melbourne as an apprentice to an engraver and then a jeweller.

27 portraits in the collection

In the round

Andrew Sayers outlines the highlights of the National Portrait Gallery's display of portrait sculpture.

Icons Syndicate

Listed alphabetically

Honour board

Piper, the native who accompanied Major Mitchell in his expedition to the interior

Piper, the native who accompanied Major Mitchell in his expedition to the interior, c. 1836

William Fernyhough

Photographic Portraits from 19th Century Australia

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

Husbands and Wives

Previous exhibition, 2010

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

Maurice Felton

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, selenium toned on paper

Maurice Appleby Felton (1803-1842) arrived in Sydney with his wife and four children in late 1839 as surgeon to the immigrant ship the Royal Admiral.

3 portraits in the collection

Brian Croser AO, 1998 (printed 2001)

Kate Gollings

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

Wes Stacey, Kurnell, Sydney, 1973 (printed 2000)

David Moore

Chefs, winemakers, providores

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

Dr G Yunupingu

Magazine article, 2017

Dr G Yunupingu (1970-2017), a man of the Gumatj clan of north-east Arnhem Land, learned to play guitar, keyboard, drums and didgeridoo as a child.

Masters of Fare

Previous exhibition, 2004

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.

Margel Hinder AM

Margel Hinder AM (née Harris) (1906-1995), sculptor, trained in Buffalo and Boston in the 1920s.

1 portrait in the collection

Anne Zahalka

Magazine article by Phil Manning, 2017

Photo media artist Anne Zahalka was born in Sydney in 1957, following her parent’s migration to post-war Australia.

19 portraits in the collection

Thomas Mathewson (inset) and his studio on Queen Street, c. 1908 by Thomas Mathewson & Co

Northern exposure

Phil Manning celebrates a century of Brisbane photographic portraiture.

Michelle Simmons AO

Michelle Simmons AO (b. 1967), 2018 Australian of the Year, is a pioneer in atomic electronics and quantum computing.

1 portrait in the collection

Robert Oatley AO

1928–2016

The National Portrait Gallery mourns the loss of one our most generous benefactors, Robert Oatley AO.

Jeremiah Ware

Jeremiah Ware (1792–1878) arrived in Van Diemen’s Land in 1822 with his wife, Mary (née Brooks, c.

1 portrait in the collection

Mary Ware

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

Jeremiah Ware (1792–1878) arrived in Van Diemen’s Land in 1822 with his wife, Mary (née Brooks, c.

1 portrait in the collection

MacKenzie family silhouette, 1846

Samuel Metford

Gift of the Estate of Nancy Wiseman 2007

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2018

Previous exhibition, 2018

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.

All there in black and white

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2007

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.

Dr Arthur Martin a'Beckett

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, selenium toned on paper

Dr Arthur Martin a’Beckett FRCS (1812-1871) surgeon and New South Wales parliamentarian studied at London University from 1831 before undertaking a residency in Paris, centre for innovation in the practice of hygiene, pathological anatomy and physiopathology.

2 portraits in the collection

Howard Taylor, 1988 (printed 2001)

John Austin

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Howard Taylor, 1988 (printed 2001)

John Austin

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, selenium toned on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

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.

Bungaree, late chief of the Broken Bay tribe, Sydney

Heads of the People

A Portrait of Colonial Australia

Previous exhibition, 2000

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

The Australian Cricket Team 1882

Contemporary women artists make Australian history

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

Marilyn Ball, Albatross, 2018 (detail) by Linde Ivimey

So Fine

Previous exhibition, 2018

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.

John Piper

The vision of Gordon and Marilyn Darling

Piper (life dates unknown), also known as John Piper, was a Wiradjuri man who acted as a guide to Thomas Mitchell’s surveying expedition along the Murray and Darling Rivers into present-day Victoria in 1836.

2 portraits in the collection

Uncommon Australians

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.

Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt

Five Years of National Portrait Gallery Commissions

Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt (1813-c. 1848) went to school and university in Germany but the range of his interests was such that he never actually graduated (he was later called Dr Leichhardt in recognition of his broad scholarship).

1 portrait in the collection

Making Portraits

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

TW Edgeworth David and Vilhjalmur Stefansson

TW Edgeworth David and Vilhjalmur Stefansson, 1924

Annie May Moore

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

David Strachan

Previous exhibition, 2009

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

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.

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.

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

A new perspective

Magazine article by Celina Fox, 2006

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.

John Connell

Infamy, the macabre & the portrait

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

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.

Hon Tom Hughes KC, 2001

Jiawei Shen

Magazine article by Sandy Nairne, 2006

Commissioned with funds provided by Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull 2003

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.

Elizabeth Lewis

Mortimer Lewis (1796–1879), surveyor and architect, and his wife Elizabeth (née Clements, c.

1 portrait in the collection

Mortimer Lewis

Mortimer Lewis (1796–1879), surveyor and architect, and his wife Elizabeth (née Clements, c.

1 portrait in the collection

Matthias Darly

Matthias (or Matthew) Darly, printseller, engraver, caricaturist and furniture designer, served an apprenticeship to a clockmaker before opening a print shop in London in the 1740s.

3 portraits in the collection

William Bligh

The life of William Bligh offers up a handful of the most remarkable episodes in the history of Britain’s eighteenth and early nineteenth-century maritime empire.

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

Bathing woman, Bridlington, c.1825 by John Dempsey

Allow me to introduce...

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2009

These full-length figures in watercolour, gouache and pencil date mostly from the 1820s, and almost all come from the collection of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart.

Fits of delicacy and despair

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

Mrs Elizabeth Lewis, c. 1830

Portrait, watercolour on ivory

Gift of Leo Schofield AM 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

The Story So Far...

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2002

A reflection on the National Portrait Gallery's first four years.

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.

Clifton Pugh

Australians

Previous exhibition, 2005

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.

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.

William Shakespeare, c. 1600-1610 associated with John Taylor

Take thy face hence

Portrait, carte de visite photograph on card

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

Lillie Langtry, c. 1885

W & D Downey

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

Barry Humphries

Previous exhibition, 2020

Barry Humphries AO CBE (1934–2023), actor, writer and artist, was the world's all-time most successful solo theatrical performer.

12 portraits in the collection

Alfredo Esquillo Jr

by Patrick D. Flores

Artist essays

Born in Manila in 1972, Alfredo Esquillo Jr majored in painting at University of Santo Thomas.

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.

The consolations of religion

A bushranger meets his maker, 6 January 1826

Archived media releases 2020

James McCabe provides proof that hanging wasn’t necessarily a fate reserved for the perpetrators of murder and other deeds of darkest hue.

Presenting… Shirley Purdie’s Ngalim-Ngalimbooroo Ngagenybe

Wednesday 27 May 2020

The National Portrait Gallery this week launches an online exhibition of Shirley Purdie’s remarkable self-portrait Ngalim-Ngalimbooroo Ngagenybe to coincide with Reconciliation Week.

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

Unknown drawer

Magazine article by Dr David Hansen, 2017

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

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.

Leigh Bowery, 1984

Robyn Beeche

Portrait, steel engraving on paper

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

Matthew Burnett, c. 1865

Henry Samuel Sadd

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

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

Waterloo and Mrs. Moore

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.

Sir Les Patterson, 1999

Polly Borland

Self Portraits in Australia

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

To Look Within

Previous exhibition, 2004

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

Little treasures

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2002

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

William Francis King, 'The Flying Pieman'

William Francis King, 'The Flying Pieman', c. 1869

John Davis

Archived media releases 2018

Gift of the family of FW Macpherson 2010

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2018

8 March 2018

Images for media use will be available from 8 March 2018.

Georg von Neumayer, c. 1860

Johnstone & Co

Melbourne and Sydney Photographic Co

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

Robert O'Hara Burke, c. 1860

Portrait, carte de visite photograph on card

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

William Robertson and Martha Mary Robertson

William Robertson and Martha Mary Robertson, 1863

William Edward Kilburn

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

Primed

Some Prime Ministers

Previous exhibition, 2019

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

The Tichborne Claimant (Arthur Orton), c. 1872

Maull & Co Photographers

Portrait, albumen silver carte de visite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

Old Blighty

Magazine article by Angus Trumble, 2016

Angus Trumble ponders the many faces of William Bligh.

Australian visit in Denmark

Magazine article by Mette Skougaard, 2006

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

Two pair

Magazine article by Dr Jacqui Strecker, 2008

Stuttgart's Art Museum is showing Otto Dix portraits alongside artists from Lucas Cranach to Andy Warhol.

Hattie Shepparde, 1872

Bardwell's Royal Studio

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

Sir Charles Nicholson

Magazine article by Gillian Raymond, 2007

Sir Charles Nicholson (1808-1903), statesman, landowner, businessman, connoisseur, scholar and physician, was born illegitimately into unpropitious circumstances in Yorkshire.

2 portraits in the collection

Virtual lives

A brief introduction to the Weird, Wired World of Internet Portraiture.

123 Faces

Magazine article by Magda Keaney, 2002

Magda Keaney examines the 123 Faces project by Simon Obarzanek.

Nicholas Chevalier, c. 1867

Portrait, albumen photograph on carte de visite

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

Storied portrait

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2009

Emily Casey takes in Shirley Purdie’s remarkable self-portrait, Ngalim-Ngalimbooroo Ngagenybe.

Duty bound

Joanna Gilmour explores the life of colonial women Lady Ellen Stirling, Eliza Darling, Lady Eliza Arthur, Elizabeth Macquarie and Lady Jane Franklin.

Portrait Donors

Listed by year

Honour board

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.

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

Portraiture in a Bleak House

The Illustrated London News after Jean Joseph Benjamin-Constant

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.

Queen Victoria, 1901

Portrait, photogravure on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Wylie

Wylie (c. 1824–unknown) is thought to have been born near King George’s Sound in south-west Western Australia, which would make him a Noongar man.

1 portrait in the collection

Michelle Simmons, 2018

by Selina Ou

Magazine article by Dimity Goldie, 2003

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

Portrait of a Modernist

The National Portrait Gallery acquired the self-portrait by Grace Cossington Smith in 2003.

Anna F. Walker

Anna Frances Walker (1830–1913), botanical artist and collector, was one of the thirteen children of Thomas Walker, a high-ranking colonial public servant, and his wife Anna Elizabeth, the daughter of merchant and landowner John Blaxland.

1 portrait in the collection

Richard Flanagan

Magazine article by Djon Mundine OAM, 2017

Richard Flanagan (b. 1961) was born in Longford in northern Tasmania, the second youngest of the six children of Archie Flanagan, a primary school principal, and his wife Helen.

1 portrait in the collection

Big shots

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

The painter and the princess

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2006

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

The Coronation Theatre, Westminster Abbey: A Portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2012

Imagination

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2013

Dr Sarah Engledow tells the story of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee portrait by Australian artist Ralph Heimans.

Wylie, 1840-1841

Robert Neill

Portrait, steel engraving with later hand-colouring on paper

Purchased 2018

More cash than dash

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2011

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

9 lives of Karin Catt

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2006

Australian photographer Karin Catt has shot across the spectrum of celebrity, her subjects including rock stars, world leaders and actors.

Thilin-Thilin Gooragall Nyajaringil Garnkiny-nu (white gum tree, mother for the moon), 2018 by Shirley Purdie

Storytelling

Magazine article by Simon Elliott, 2002

The fourth row of paintings interweave Ngarranggarni, memories, relationships and Country.

No Laughing Matter

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

Andrew Sayers AM FAHA

13 October 2015

Archived media releases 2015

The Chairman, Board, Director and staff mourn the loss of the National Portrait Gallery's inaugural director.

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.

Alternative virtue

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2015

Joanna Gilmour presents John Kay’s portraits of a more infamous side of Edinburgh.

Reflections on portraiture

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2004

An extract from the 2004 Nuala O'Flaaherty Memorial Lecture at the Queen Victoria Musuem and Art Gallery in Launceston in which Andrew Sayers reflects on the unique qualities of a portrait gallery.

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.

Lustre, held by a Groom, ca. 1762 by George Stubbs

Stubbs and the horse

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2011

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.”

Louis XVI giving final instructions to the Comte de La Perouse, c. 1785

Sea legged frogs

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

One hundred days at 7pm 2015 by Fiona McMonagle

Self-effacing

Magazine article by Michael Wardell, 2016

Michael Wardell samples the fare in the University of Queensland National Self-portrait Prize.

Good, bad and the ugly

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2007

Michael Desmond explores what makes a portrait subject significant.

History

About us

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

I’ll miss you copying things, 2018 Joan Ross

When birds no longer sing

Magazine article by Dr Emma Kindred, 2024

Emma Kindred looks at the career of Joan Ross, whose work subverts colonial imagery and its legacy with the clash of fluorescent yellow.

Unheroic Materialism: little harmless fragments of memory and association: a portrait of Angus Trumble, 2019 Evert Ploeg

The last word

Magazine article by Dr David Hansen, 2022

David Hansen’s tribute to his close friend, prince of words and former National Portrait Gallery director, the late Angus Trumble.

The Dissecting Room

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2015

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

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.

Inditchenous beestes of New Olland

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2010

A remarkable undated drawing by Edward Lear (1812–88) blends natural history and whimsy.

The God-shaped hole

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

All dressed up

Magazine article by Jane Raffan, 2013

Jane Raffan asks do clothes make the portrait, and can the same work with a new title fetch a better price?

Hide/Seek

Magazine article by David Ward, 2010

David Ward writes about the exhibition Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture on display at the National Portrait Gallery, Washington.

Goollabal (Rainbow Serpent), 2018 by Shirley Purdie

Memories

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

Exhibition opening speech

The vision of Gordon and Marilyn Darling

Leo Schofield introduces the exhibition, Masters of fare: chefs, winemakers, providores.

Uncommon Australians

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2016

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

Dr Edward MacMahon, 1959 by William Dobell

Bill and Ted's excellent portrait.

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

Showing character

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2016

Joanna Gilmour on Tom Durkin playing with Melbourne's manhood.

Expect the unexpected

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2019

Joanna Gilmour revels in accidental artist Charles Rodius’ nineteenth century renderings of Indigenous peoples.

The Conciliation, 1840 by Benjamin Duterrau

The art of conciliation

Magazine article by Gareth Knapman, 2017

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

The story of us

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2022

Gallery directors Karen Quinlan and Tony Ellwood talk to Penelope Grist about the NPG and NGV collaborative exhibition, Who Are You: Australian Portraiture.

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.

200 Years of Portraiture

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2010

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

Subtle emotion

Christopher Chapman considers photographer Rozalind Drummond's portrait of author Nam Le.

Starry knight

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2010

Aircraft designer, pilot and entrepreneur, Sir Lawrence Wackett rejoins friends and colleagues on the walls of the National Portrait Gallery.

You are who?

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2016

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

Apollo's breath

Christopher Chapman delights in the intimacy of Robert Mapplethorpe's photography

The cook (Michael Schmidt/architect), 1987

Hall of mirrors

Magazine article by Naomi Cass, 2007

Naomi Cass, Director of the Centre of Contemporary Photography, in conversation with Anne Zahalka.

Support Crew

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2011

Portraits of philanthropists in the collection honour their contributions to Australia and acknowledge their support of the National Portrait Gallery.

Cover, first minute book of the Tasmanian Society of Natural History

Embrace your inner nerd

The southern winter has arrived. For people in the northern hemisphere (the majority of humanity) the idea of snow and ice, freezing mist and fog in June, potentially continuing through to August and beyond, encapsulates the topsy-turvidom of our southern continent.

Little John of Colchester, a poor lunatic, c.1823 by John Dempsey

Dempsey's people

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2009

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.

The fat of the land

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

Aretha Brown

In conversation

Magazine article by Rebecca Ray, 2023

Gumbaynggirr artist Aretha Brown talks street art, collaboration and ghost stories with First Nations Curator and Meriam woman, Rebecca Ray.

Facing Australia, Composite portrait: Facing St Lucia, 2003

Conflicting images

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2008

Michael Desmond reveals the origins of composite portraits and their evolution in the pursuit of the ideal.

Miss Robertson of Colac (Dolly), 1885-86

Brothers on farms

Magazine article by Malcolm Robertson, 2011

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.

Hearts of Darkness

Magazine article by Magda Keaney, 2006

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

The Philosophy of Teapots and Ducks

Magazine article by Gillian Raymond, 2005

Cartoonist Michael Leunig's insights into the human condition and current affairs have become famous Australia-wide.

Big bouquet of Blackmans

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2013

Dr. Sarah Engledow explores the context surrounding Charles Blackman's portrait of Judith Wright, Jack McKinney and their daughter Meredith.

Little women

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2019

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

A real Pratt

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2015

The death of a gentlewoman is shrouded in mystery, a well-liked governor finds love after sorrow, and two upright men become entangled in the historical record.

Top shot that

Magazine article by Gideon Haigh, 2009

Gideon Haigh discusses portraits of Australian cricketers from the early 20th century

School portraits

Magazine article by Graeme Dix, 2016

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

Portrait of the Gallery

A design diary retrospective.

Christian Waller with Baldur, Undine and Siren at Fairy Hills, 1932 by Napier Waller

Enigma

Magazine article by Dr Grace Blakeley-Carroll, 2015

Grace Carroll contemplates the curious case of Christian Waller.

Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil de Cavagnial, Marquis de Vaudreuil, ca.1753-55

Canadian identities

Magazine article by Lilly Koltun, 2004

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

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.

Arcadia: Sound of the sea

Exhibition introduction

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2016

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.

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

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.

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

The Rothschilds, the Montefiores, and the Victorian Gold Rush

Magazine article by The Hon. Dr Kevin Rudd, 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.

An Australian story

In his speech launching the new National Portrait Gallery building on 3 December 2008, then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd set the Gallery in a national and historical context.

The bright-eyed Mariner

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2008

A new colonial portrait brings a zealous captain near.

Portrait of William Manning, c.1821 by Henry Bone

Of beef in burgundy

Magazine article by Angus Trumble, 2017

Angus Trumble reveals the complex technical mastery behind a striking recent acquisition, Henry Bone’s enamel portrait of William Manning.

A Family Being Served with Tea, ca. 1745 by an unknown artist

A reflection on conversation pieces

Magazine article by Jane Raffan, 2013

There is in the collection of the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut, an English painting, datable on the basis of costume to about 1745, that has for many years exercised my imagination.

‘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.

Naked ambition

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2009

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

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.

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.

Yellow portrait (portrait of Alex Jelinek)

Fugue in Yellow

Magazine article by Roger Benjamin, 2015

Roger Benjamin explores the intriguing union of Lina Bryans and Alex Jelinek.

Profile of a marriage

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.

Cultural kaleidoscope

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2016

The complex connections between four creative Australians; Patrick White, Sidney Nolan, Robert Helpmann and Peter Sculthorpe.

Australia’s great internationalists

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

The importance of being bearded

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2012

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.

Costantini's convictions

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2017

Jo Gilmour uncovers endearing authenticity in the art of a twice-transported Tasmanian.

You beauty

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2010

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

Mugshots

A toast to the acquisition of an unconventional new portrait of former Prime Minister, Stanley Melbourne Bruce.

Christmas Island

Magazine article by Jane Raffan, 2015

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.

First-Class Marksman, 1946 by Sidney Nolan

Money for Myth

Australian character on the market by Jane Raffan.

NPPP 2016 exhibition essay

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2016

Penny Grist, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2016 Prize.

Waterfall in Australia, c. 1830 by Augustus Earle

Augustus serendipitous

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

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.

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

Getting bare

Magazine article by Penelope Grist, 2015

How seven portraits within Bare reveal in a public portrait parts of the body and elements of life usually located in the private sphere.

Portrait of a Pioneer , 1917
Violet Teague

Off her own bat

Magazine article by Richard Ormond, 2015

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

Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose, 1885-86 by
John Singer Sargent

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

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2015

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

Regarding Henrys

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2015

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

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.

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

All the way with K of K

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2016

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

Anangu landscape learning

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

The personal and the historical

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.

The Bare story

Curator, Penny Grist, reveals how this exhibition came to be

Some prime ministers