The
National Portrait Gallery is an
art galleryAn art gallery or art museum is a space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museum can be public or private but what distinguishes a Museum is the ownership of a collection. Paintings are the most commonly displayed art objects; however, sculpture, photographs, illustrations,...
in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous
British peopleThe British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, one of the Channel Islands, or of one of the British overseas territories, and their descendants. In a historical context, the term refers to the ancient Britons, the indigenous inhabitants of Great Britain south of the...
. It was the first portrait gallery in the world when it opened in 1856. The gallery moved in 1896 to its current site at St Martin's Place, off
Trafalgar SquareTrafalgar Square is a square in central London, England. With its position in the heart of London, it is a tourist attraction; and one of the most famous squares in the United Kingdom and the world. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base...
, and adjoining the National Gallery. It has been expanded twice since then. The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) also has various satellite outstations located elsewhere in the UK, mostly for aristocratic portraits. It is unconnected to the
Scottish National Portrait GalleryThe Scottish National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery on Queen Street, Edinburgh, Scotland. It holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. In addition it also holds the Scottish National Photography Collection...
in
EdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland. It is the second largest Scottish city, after Glasgow, and the seventh-most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas....
, with which its remit overlaps. The gallery is a
non-departmental public bodyIn the United Kingdom, a non-departmental public body is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Executive to certain types of public bodies...
sponsored by the
Department for Culture, Media and SportThe Department for Culture, Media and Sport is a department of the United Kingdom government, with responsibility for culture and sport in England, and some aspects of the media throughout the whole UK, for example broadcasting...
.
The collection
The gallery houses
portraitA portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this reason, in photography a portrait is generally not a...
s of historically important and famous
British peopleThe British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, one of the Channel Islands, or of one of the British overseas territories, and their descendants. In a historical context, the term refers to the ancient Britons, the indigenous inhabitants of Great Britain south of the...
, selected on the basis of the significance of the sitter, not that of the artist. The collection includes
photographA photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
s and
caricatureA caricature can refer to a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness...
s as well as
paintingPainting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . In art, the term describes both the act and the result, which is called a painting. Paintings may have for their support such surfaces as walls, paper, canvas, wood, glass, lacquer, clay or concrete...
s,
drawingDrawing is a visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoals, chalk, pastels, markers, stylus, or various metals like silverpoint...
s and
sculptureSculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard and/or plastic material, sound, and/or text and or light, commonly stone , metal, glass, or wood. Some sculptures are created directly by finding or carving; others are assembled, built together and fired, welded, molded,...
. One of its best-known images is the
Chandos portraitThe "Chandos" portrait is one of the most famous of the portraits that may depict William Shakespeare . Believed to have been painted from life between 1600 and 1610, it may have served as the basis for the engraved portrait of Shakespeare used in the First Folio in 1623. It is named after James...
, the most famous portrait of
William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
although there is some uncertainty as to if the painting actually is of the playwright.
Not all of the portraits are exceptional artistically, although there are self-portraits by
William HogarthWilliam Hogarth was a major English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic and editorial cartoonist who has been credited with pioneering western sequential art. His work ranged from excellent realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral...
, Sir
Joshua ReynoldsSir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA was an important and influential 18th century English painter, specialising in portraits and promoting the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealisation of the imperfect. He was one of the founders and first President of the Royal Academy...
and other British artists of note. Some, such as the group portrait of the participants in the
Somerset HouseSomerset House is a large building situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, England, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The central block of the Neoclassical building, the outstanding project of the architect Sir William Chambers, dates from 1776–96. It...
Conference of 1604, are important historical documents in their own right. Often the curiosity value is greater than the artistic worth of a work, as in the case of the anamorphic portrait of
Edward VIEdward VI became King of England and Ireland on 28 January 1547 and was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first Protestant ruler. During Edward’s reign, the realm was governed by a...
by
William ScrotsWilliam Scrots was a painter of the Tudor court and an exponent of the Mannerist style of painting in the Netherlands. He is first heard of when appointed a court painter to Mary of Habsburg, Regent of the Netherlands, in 1537...
,
Patrick Branwell BrontëPatrick Branwell Brontë was a painter and poet, the only son of the Brontë family, and the brother of the writers Charlotte, Emily and Anne.-Youth:...
's painting of his sisters
CharlotteCharlotte Brontë was an English novelist, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters whose novels are English literature standards...
,
EmilyEmily Jane Brontë was an English novelist and poet, now best remembered for her only novel Wuthering Heights, a classic of English literature. Emily was the second eldest of the three surviving Brontë sisters, between Charlotte and Anne...
and
AnneAnne Brontë was a British novelist and poet, the youngest member of the Brontë literary family.The daughter of a poor Irish clergyman in the Church of England, Anne Brontë lived most of her life with her family at the small parish of Haworth on the Yorkshire moors. For a couple of years she went...
, or a sculpture of
Queen VictoriaVictoria was the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837, and the first Empress of India of the British Raj from 1 May 1876, until her death...
and Prince Albert in medieval costume. Portraits of living figures were allowed from 1969. In addition to its permanent galleries of historical portraits, the National Portrait Gallery exhibits a rapidly changing collection of contemporary work, stages exhibitions of portrait art by individual artists and hosts the annual
BP Portrait PrizeThe BP Portrait Award is an annual portraiture competition held at the National Portrait Gallery in London, England. It is the successor to the John Player Portrait Award....
competition.
History and buildings
The three people largely responsible for the founding of the National Portrait Gallery are commemorated with busts over the main entrance. At centre is Philip Henry Stanhope, 5th Earl Stanhope, with his supporters on either side,
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron MacaulayThomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay PC was a British poet, historian and Whig politician. He wrote extensively as an essayist and reviewer, and on British history...
(to Stanhope's left) and
Thomas CarlyleThomas Carlyle was a Scottish satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher during the Victorian era.He called economics "the dismal science", wrote articles for the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, and became a controversial social commentator.
Coming from a strict Calvinist family,...
(to Stanhope's right). It was Stanhope who, in 1846 as a Member of Parliament (MP), first proposed the idea of a National Portrait Gallery. It was not until his third attempt, in 1856, this time from the House of Lords, that the proposal was accepted. With Queen Victoria's approval, the House of Commons set aside a sum of £2000 to establish the gallery. As well as Stanhope and Macaulay, the founder Trustees included Benjamin Disraeli and Lord Ellesmere. It was the latter who donated the
Chandos portraitThe "Chandos" portrait is one of the most famous of the portraits that may depict William Shakespeare . Believed to have been painted from life between 1600 and 1610, it may have served as the basis for the engraved portrait of Shakespeare used in the First Folio in 1623. It is named after James...
to the nation as the gallery's first portrait. Carlyle became a trustee after the death of Ellesmere in 1857.
For the first 40 years, the gallery was housed in various locations in London. The first 13 years were spent at 29 Great George Street,
WestminsterThe City of Westminster is a borough of London with city status. It is located west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, and forms part of Inner London and the bulk of London's central area....
. There, the collection increased in size from 57 to 208 items, and the number of visitors from 5,300 to 34,500. In 1869, the collection moved to
Exhibition RoadExhibition Road is a street in South Kensington, London, England. It is named after the Great Exhibition of 1851 held in Hyde Park to the north.The road runs between South Kensington tube station and the location of the exhibition in the park...
and buildings managed by the
Royal Horticultural SocietyThe Royal Horticultural Society was founded in 1804 in London, England as the Horticultural Society of London, and gained its present name in a Royal Charter granted in 1861 by Prince Albert. It is a charity and exists to promote gardening and horticulture in Britain and Europe...
. Following a fire in those buildings, the collection was moved in 1885, this time to the Bethnal Green Museum. This location was ultimately unsuitable due to its distance from the
West End-Australia:*West End, Queensland in Brisbane*West End, Queensland in Townsville*West End, Western Australia in Geraldton-Canada:*West End, Kamloops, British Columbia*West End, Vancouver, British Columbia*West End, Winnipeg, Manitoba...
, condensation and lack of waterproofing. Following calls for a new location to be found, the government accepted an offer of funds from the philanthropist William Henry Alexander. Alexander donated £60,000 followed by another £20,000, and also chose the architect,
Ewan ChristianEwan Christian was a British architect.Christian was born on the Isle of Man. He is most notable for the restoration of Carlisle Cathedral, the alterations to Christ Church, Spitalfields in 1866, and the extension to the National Gallery that created the National Portrait Gallery. He was also...
. The government provided the new site, St Martin's Place, adjacent to the
National GalleryThe National Gallery in London, founded in 1824, houses a rich collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900 in its home on Trafalgar Square...
, and £16,000. The buildings, faced in
Portland stonePortland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries consist of beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building stone throughout the British Isles, notably in major...
, were constructed by Shillitoe & Son. Both the architect, Ewan Christian, and the gallery's first director,
George ScharfSir George Scharf KCB , British art critic, illustrator, and director of the National Portrait Gallery, was born in London, the son of George Johann Scharf, a Bavarian miniature painter, and older brother to Henry Scharf, actor and illustrator.-Biography:Early yearsGeorge Scharf was born at 3 St...
, died shortly before the new building was completed. The gallery opened at its new location on 4 April 1896.
The site has since been expanded twice. The first extension, in 1933, was funded by
Lord DuveenJoseph Duveen, 1st Baron Duveen was one of the most influential art dealers of all time.-Life and career:...
, and resulted in the wing by architect Sir
Richard AllisonSir Richard John Allison was a Scottish architect. From 1889 he was associated with the government Office of Works in London, and from 1914 was its Chief Architect.-Selected works:* The Science Museum, London...
that runs along Orange Street. The second extension, in 2000, was funded by Sir
Christopher OndaatjeSir Philip Christopher Ondaatje, OC, CBE, is a Sri Lankan-Canadian businessman, philanthropist, adventurer, writer and Olympian. He lives in the United Kingdom....
. The Ondaatje Wing occupies a narrow space of land between the two 19th-century buildings of the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery, and is notable for its immense, two-storey escalator that takes visitors to the earliest part of the collection, the
TudorThe Tudor period usually refers to the period between 1485 and 1603, specifically in relation to the history of England. This coincides with the rule of the Tudor dynasty in England whose first monarch was Henry VII...
portraits.
In January 2008, the Gallery received its largest single donation to date, a £5m gift from U.S. billionaire
Randy LernerRandolph D. Lerner is an American entrepreneur and sports team owner.Lerner has been the owner of the American football team, the Cleveland Browns, of the National Football League since October 2002, and the Chairman of Aston Villa Football Club of the Barclays Premier League since 2006...
.
Exterior busts
In addition to the busts of the three founders of the gallery over the entrance, the exterior of two of the original 1896 buildings are decorated with stone block busts of eminent portrait artists, biographical writers and historians. These busts, sculpted by Frederick R. Thomas, depict
James GrangerJames Granger , biographer, was at Oxford and, entering theChurch, became Vicar of Shiplake, Oxon. He published a Biographical History of England from Egbert the Great to the Revolution...
,
William FaithorneWilliam Faithorne , English painter and engraver, was born in London and was apprenticed to William Peake.On the outbreak of the Civil War he accompanied his master into the king's service, and being made prisoner at Basing House, he was confined for some time to Aldersgate, where, however, he was...
,
Edmund LodgeSir Edmund Lodge, KH was a long-serving English officer of arms and a writer on heraldic subjects. He was born in London on 13 June 1756 and was the son of Edmund Lodge, rector of Carshalton, Surrey. He held a Cornet's commission in the army, which he resigned in 1773. In 1782 he became...
,
Thomas FullerThomas Fuller was an English churchman and historian. He is now remembered for his writings, particularly his Worthies of England, published after his death...
,
The Earl of ClarendonEdward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon was an English historian and statesman, and grandfather of two British monarchs, Mary II and Queen Anne.-Early life:...
, Horace Walpole,
Hans Holbein the YoungerHans Holbein the Younger was a German artist and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style. He is best known as one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century. He also produced religious art, satire and Reformation propaganda, and made a significant contribution to the history...
, Sir Anthony Van Dyck, Sir Peter Lely, Sir Godfrey Kneller, Louis François Roubiliac,
William HogarthWilliam Hogarth was a major English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic and editorial cartoonist who has been credited with pioneering western sequential art. His work ranged from excellent realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral...
, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir Thomas Lawrence and Sir Francis Chantrey.
Finances and staff
The National Portrait Gallery's total income in 2007-2008 amounted to £16,610,000, the majority of which came from government
grant-in-aidA grant-in-aid is money coming from central government for a specific project. This kind of funding is usually used when the government and parliament have decided that the recipient should be publicly funded but operate with reasonable independence from the State...
(£7,038,000) and donations (£4,117,000). As of 31 March 2008 its
net assetsNet assets are sometimes the same as net worth, or shareholders' equity - assets minus liabilities. The term net assets is commonly used with charities or not for profit entities...
were £69,251,000. In 2008, the NPG had 218
full-time equivalentFull-time equivalent is a way to measure a worker's involvement in a project, or a student's enrollment at an educational institution. An FTE of 1.0 means that the person is equivalent to a full-time worker, while an FTE of 0.5 signals that the worker is only half-time...
employees. It is an
exempt charityAn exempt charity is an institution established in England and Wales for charitable purposes which is exempt from registration with, and oversight by, the Charity Commission....
under English law. Wikipedia contains digital images placed online by the National Portrait Gallery which (according to the Gallery) is in breach of English Copyright law from which the Gallery makes annually around £12,500
Directors
- George Scharf
Sir George Scharf KCB , British art critic, illustrator, and director of the National Portrait Gallery, was born in London, the son of George Johann Scharf, a Bavarian miniature painter, and older brother to Henry Scharf, actor and illustrator.-Biography:Early yearsGeorge Scharf was born at 3 St...
— 1857–1894/5
- Lionel Cust
Sir Lionel Henry Cust, KCVO FSA was an English art historian and museum director. He was director of the National Portrait Gallery from 1895 to 1909 and co-edited The Burlington Magazine from 1909 to 1919....
— 1895–1909. He was previously at the Department of Prints and Drawings at the British MuseumThe British Museum is a museum of human history and culture situated in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from...
, and from 1901 to 1927 filled the role of Surveyor of the King's Pictures.
- Charles John Holmes
Sir Charles John Holmes, KCVO was a British painter, art critic and museum director. His writing on art combined theory with practice and he was an expert on the painting techniques of the Old Masters, from whose example he had learned to draw and paint.From 1889 to 1903 Holmes worked as a...
— 1909–1916. Later director of the National GalleryThe National Gallery in London, founded in 1824, houses a rich collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900 in its home on Trafalgar Square...
- James Milner
-People:* Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner , British colonial administrator* Andy Milner , English footballer* Brenda Milner , English-Canadian neuropsychologist* Eric Milner-White , English cleric* H. R...
— 1917–1927
- Sir Henry Hake — 1927–1951
- Charles Kingsley Adams — 1951–1964
- David Piper — 1964–1967. Later director of the Fitzwilliam Museum
The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge, located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge, England. It receives around 300,000 visitors annually. Admission is free....
and fellow of Christ's College, CambridgeChrist's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.With a reputation for high academic standards, Christ's College has consistently finished in the top ten colleges in the Tompkins Table in recent years.-College history:...
(1967–73), and first ever director of the Ashmolean MuseumThe Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum...
(1973–85)
- Roy Strong
Sir Roy Colin Strong FRSL is an English art historian, museum curator, writer, broadcaster and landscape designer. He has been director of both the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.-Education:...
— 1967–73
- John Hayes
John Trevor Hayes CBE FRSA was a British art historian and museum director. He was an authority on the paintings of Thomas Gainsborough.-Life and career:...
— 1974–94
- Charles Saumarez Smith
Charles Robert Saumarez Smith CBE is a British art historian. He was Director of the National Portrait Gallery from 1994. From 2002 to 2007 he was director of the National Gallery and is currently Secretary and Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Arts...
— 1994–2002
- Sandy Nairne
Alexander Robert "Sandy" Nairne is a British museum director and writer. Since 2002, he has been Director of the National Portrait Gallery...
— 2002–present
Legal action against the Wikimedia Foundation
On 14 July 2009, the National Portrait Gallery started legal proceedings for breach of copyright against an editor-user of
WikipediaWikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its name is a portmanteau of the words wiki and encyclopedia...
, who downloaded thousands of high-resolution images from the NPG website, and placed them on its sister media repository site,
Wikimedia CommonsWikimedia Commons is an online repository of images, sound and other multimedia files. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation, from which uploaded files can be used across all Wikimedia projects in all languages, including Wikipedia, Wikibooks, Wikisource and Wikinews, or downloaded for...
.
Further reading
- Hulme, Graham, The National Portrait Gallery: An Architectural History, National Portrait Gallery Publications, 2000, ISBN 1855142937
External links