National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery with a large collection of portraits of various famous Brits. This is the first portrait gallery in the world, having been officially opened in 1856 with the purpose of immortalizing the famous Brits from the previous centuries. The collection doesn’t only contain oil paintings, but also miniatures, drawings, busts and photographs. Since 1896, the museum has been located in the neo-renaissance building near the famous Trafalgar Square.
The first piece of art in the museum was a portrait of the famous Shakespeare. During the selection of artwork, the paintings were separated in chronological cathegories, according to the life spans and time when when the people potrayed lived in. Until 1969, there was a ban on making portraits of still-living Brits. The portraits in the Gallery’s collection were done by artists such as Rubens and Van Eyck, so only famous artists’ works are displayed there.
The gallery contains a large collection of theater photographs, including those of many famous actresses such as Minnie Terry, Dorothy Din and Connie Gilchrist. As we have already mentioned, the artwork has been separated chronologically from the last to the ground floor. Visitors can find paintings of various members of the Tudor and Stuart families from the year 1845, as well as portraits of the most influential people from the age of Reformation in the 16th century. Paintings of the most relevant British citizens from between 19th and 20th century can be found one floor below, and the collection includes paintins of Queen Victoria and Winston Churchill. The bottom gallery shows portraits of modern notable people from the 19th and 20th century, and the exhibitions organized there are temporary.
The entrance to the National Portrait Gallery is FREE OF CHARGE.
Opening hours of the National Portrait Gallery
Open daily: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm (Thursday and Friday open until 9:00 pm)
photo credit: Gian Carlos Maitelli - instagram profil
