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National Portrait Gallery, London

National Portrait Gallery, London

Open to the public

Museum or gallery in Westminster

3,933 artworks

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Founded in 1856 and located just off Trafalgar Square, the National Portrait Gallery is home to the largest collection of portraiture in the world, featuring famous men and women who have helped shape British history from the great Tudor courts to the present day, with contemporary portraits reflecting the diversity, inventiveness and multi-culturalism of modern-day Britain. By weaving together 500 years of history, art, biography and fame, the Gallery offers a unique and fascinating insight into those individuals that together characterise a nation. Visitors can come face to face with kings and queens, courtiers and courtesans, politicians and poets, soldiers and scientists, artists and writers, philosophers and film stars. Its 3,000 paintings feature some of the most iconic and instantly recognisable faces in British history, from Elizabeth I to J. K. Rowling, with artists ranging from Holbein to Hockney. Behind each image is a fascinating story giving an insight into an individual who stood out in their generation and enriched our culture and national consciousness.

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St Martin’s Place, London, Greater London WC2H 0HE England

newmedia@npg.org.uk

0207 306 0055

Before making a visit, check opening hours with the venue

http://www.npg.org.uk/

Artworks

  • Antoinette Sibley
    Antoinette Sibley Howard J. Morgan (1949–2020)
    National Portrait Gallery, London
  • Elton John ('On the throne')
    Elton John ('On the throne') Suzi Malin (b.1949)
    National Portrait Gallery, London
  • Sid James
    Sid James Ruskin Spear (1911–1990)
    National Portrait Gallery, London
  • Kathleen Raine
    Kathleen Raine Victoria Crowe (b.1945)
    National Portrait Gallery, London
  • Joseph Needham
    Joseph Needham Yolanda Sonnabend (1935–2015)
    National Portrait Gallery, London
  • Philip Pullman (b.1946)
    Philip Pullman (b.1946) Martin Jennings (b.1957)
    National Portrait Gallery, London
  • Gilbert Spencer
    Gilbert Spencer Gilbert Spencer (1892–1979)
    National Portrait Gallery, London
  • 3,926 more

Artists

  • Frances Trollope
    Auguste Hervieu (1794–1858)
  • John Phillip (1817–1867), Artist, Self Portrait
    John Phillip (1817–1867)
  • Godfrey Webster (1719–1800), 4th Bt
    Louis Gauffier (1761–1801)
  • Edmond Halley (1656–1742)
    Thomas Murray (1663–1735)
  • D. H. Lawrence
    Jan C. Juta (1895–1990)
  • Sons of the Sea
    John Robertson Reid (1851–1926)
  • Reverend Dr Robert Walker (1755–1808) Skating on Duddingston Loch
    Henry Raeburn (1756–1823)
  • Self Portrait
    Godfrey Kneller (1646–1723)
  • George Augustus Chichester (1769–1844), 2nd Marquess of Donegall
    John James Masquerier (1778–1855)
  • Jane Morris, née Burden
    John Robert Parsons (1826–1909)

Stories

Venues in Westminster

  •
    BBC England
  • Black Outdoor Art
  • British Council Collection
  • British Dental Association Dental Museum
  • City of Westminster Archives Centre
  • College of Optometrists
  • English Heritage, The Wellington Collection, Apsley House
  • Government Art Collection
  • Hallfield Primary School, Westminster
  • Hunterian Museum