National Portrait Gallery

Sketch of the skull of Richard II, 1871. © National Portrait Gallery, London. LONDON.- An archivist at the National Portrait Gallery has found relics from the tomb of King Richard II while cataloguing the papers of its first Director Sir George Scharf (1820-1895). Among the hundreds of diaries and notebooks left behind in boxes not opened for years were contents from the coffin of a medieval English king, and sketches of his skull and bones. The contents of a cigarette box dated 31 August 1871 were only identified as relics... [Lire la suite]

Jonas, Medieval Knight, Company of Saynt George (work in progress) by Isobel Peachey © Isobel Peachey, 2010 LONDON.- Portraits from major historical re-enactments in Switzerland and Belgium will be on display at the National Portrait Gallery as part of this year’s BP Portrait Award exhibition. The portraits are by Isobel Peachey winner of the BP Travel Award 2009. Peachey won a £5000 bursary to travel and paint the re-enactments following her winning proposal to record ‘the transformation that participants undergo in living... [Lire la suite]

Detail from the portrait of Queen Elizabeth I showing the outline of the coiled serpent she originally held. Photograph: National Portrait Gallery/PA LONDRES (ROYAUME-UNI) [08.03.10] – Quatre cents ans après son exécution, un portrait de la reine Elisabeth I d’Angleterre conservé à la National Portrait Gallery de Londres livre un bien curieux secret. Derrière le bouquet de fleurs que tient la reine apparaît un énigmatique serpent. Une décoloration due à la détérioration du tableau qui jetait une ombre en spirale sur le... [Lire la suite]

The Beatles by Robert Whitaker, 1964. Robert Whitaker Archive © Robert Whitaker LONDON.- A major photographic exhibition "Beatles to Bowie: the 60s" exposed opens at the National Portrait Gallery, to herald the fiftieth anniversary of the start of the 1960s in 2010. Celebrating the leading pop music personalities and groups who helped create "Swinging London" in the 1960s, the exhibition will show how The Beatles and rivals such as The Rolling Stones and The Kinks set the musical agenda. Bringing together... [Lire la suite]

Sir Thomas Lawrence, PRA (1769-1830), John Philip Kemble as Cato, 1812, oil on canvas, 254 x 177.8 cm A portrait of the greatest English actor of the early 19th century by the greatest English portrait painter of his generation will find its permanent home in the National Portrait Gallery, in the heart of London’s theatre district, thanks to a sale negotiated by Joseph Friedman, an independent fine art agent and consultant. The portrait of John Philip Kemble (1757-1823) by Sir Thomas Lawrence PRA (1769-1830) was the last of... [Lire la suite]

Joe Dallesandro by Paul Morrissey 1968. © Paul Morrissey, 1968. LONDON.- An important photography exhibition, Gay Icons, at the National Portrait Gallery will celebrate the contribution of gay people - and the significance of the gay icon - to history and culture. Ten selectors have worked with the Gallery to make their own personal choices of six individuals, their ‘icons’. Not only does this exhibition include many well-known icons, who may or may not be gay themselves, it also reveals some surprises and will encourage a wide... [Lire la suite]

The Who, 1966 by Colin Jones, National Portrait Gallery, London. © Colin Jones. LONDON.- A major photographic exhibition Beatles to Bowie: the 60s exposed opens at the National Portrait Gallery, to herald the fiftieth anniversary of the start of the 1960s in 2010. Celebrating the leading pop music personalities and groups who helped create "Swinging London" in the 1960s, the exhibition will show how The Beatles and rivals such as the Rolling Stones and The Kinks set the musical agenda. Bringing together 150... [Lire la suite]

Royal Albert Hall, London 26 or 27 May 1966 by Barry Feinstein. ©Barry Feinstein LONDON.- Photographs of Bob Dylan's 1966 European Tour by Barry Feinstein will be displayed for the first time in London at the National Portrait Gallery in May. These photographs offer a rare insight into the time when Dylan was arguably at his most controversial and iconic. Having taken the portrait of Bob Dylan that appeared on the sleeve of his 1964 album The Times They are A-Changin, Feinstein was commissioned by LIFE magazine to photograph... [Lire la suite]

John Dryden (1631-1700) by John Michael Wright (1617-1694), circa 1668. Purchased with help from L.L. Brownrigg, The Art Fund, the Lerner Gift and Lewis Golden. LONDON.- The National Portrait Gallery has acquired an oil portrait of the British seventeenth-century poet John Dryden, by the court artist John Michael Wright, believed to have been painted at the time he was appointed first official Poet Laureate in 1668. With its wreath and Latin inscriptions, the painting is a celebration of the newly created office of Poet... [Lire la suite]

Selbstportrait (“Self-portrait”) By Gerhard Richter, 1996. Flowerman Collection, Tatsumi Sato. Copyright: Gerhard Richter, 2009 LONDON.- A groundbreaking exhibition devoted to one of the greatest living painters opens at the National Portrait Gallery on 26 February 2009. Gerhard Richter Portraits is the first major exhibition to show a selection of Richter's portraits across the entire span of his career. Dating from the 1960s to the present, it includes important early black-and-white paintings made from magazine photographs,... [Lire la suite]