Founded in 1856 and unrelated to the neighboring National Gallery, this museum showcases Britain’s most famous and historically important figures through a series of portraits. With both well- and lesser-known names and faces lining the walls, there are some fascinating paintings from Tudor times through to the present day. Monarchs are depicted, from Richard II (1367–1400) to Queen Elizabeth II, and the collection also holds a 1554 miniature, England’s oldest self-portrait in oils. Displays change regularly so some of the paintings in this guide may not be on view.
St. Martin’s Place WC2 • 020 7306 0055 • www.npg.org.uk • Open 10am–6pm daily (to 9pm Fri) • Adm (separate charge for some exhibitions)
The National Portrait Gallery’s three floors are arranged chronologically. Take the escalator to the second floor and start with the Tudor and Stuart galleries (1–8). Men and women of industry, science and art from the 18th and early 19th centuries are in rooms 9 to 20. The first floor mainly covers the Victorian period to the 20th century. The ground-floor galleries display contemporary portraiture and focus on temporary exhibitions.
This anonymous portrait is one of several of Elizabeth I, who presided over England’s Renaissance (1533–1603). The Tudor rooms feature portraits of central figures of the period, from courtiers to dramatists.
This portrait of “Bonnie Prince Charlie,” grandson of James II, was painted by Louis Gabriel Blanchett (1701–72) and was a splendid piece of propaganda for the Jacobite cause.
This is the only portrait of England’s famous playwright known with certainty to have been painted during his lifetime (1564–1616).
The cartoon of Henry VIII and his father Henry VII by Hans Holbein (1537) was drawn for a large mural in the Palace of Whitehall. The mural was lost when the palace burned down in 1698.
Made in 1813, this oil painting of Lord Byron (1788–1824) by Thomas Phillips (1770–1845) depicts the Romantic poet and champion of liberty dressed in Albanian costume. He died while supporting Greek insurgents in their fight against the Ottoman Empire.
The 1800 portrait by Sir William Beechey (1753–1839) is considered to be a great likeness of the admiral, who died at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Apart from Queen Victoria and the Duke of Wellington, Nelson was painted more than any other British figure in history.
Robert Walker’s (1599–1658) oil painting shows Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658) posing in armor. The portrait is believed to date from 1649—the year Charles I, whose death warrant Cromwell signed, was executed. Cromwell went on to become the Lord Protector of Great Britain.
Painted by Aaron Edwin Penley (1806–70), this pretty watercolor miniature shows the young queen near the beginning of her reign. Her early devotion to her husband, Prince Albert, whom she married in the year of this picture, is shown by the bust of him to her left. Prince Albert’s image can frequently be found in portraits of Queen Victoria made before and after his death.
This portrait of the scientist was painted in 1883 by John Collier (1850–1934) and completed a year before Darwin’s death. It is a replica of a portrait at the Linnaean Society and was donated to the gallery by Darwin’s eldest son.
Painted by Albert Charles Challen (1847–81), this portrait is the only known oil painting of Mary Seacole, a Jamaican nurse who went to extraordinary lengths to care for the sick and wounded during the Crimean War.
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