NationMaster - Encyclopedia: National Portrait Gallery (London)

The National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery in St Martin's Place, London, England, which opened to the public in 1856. It houses portraits of historically important and famous British people, selected on the basis of the significance of the sitter. The collection [1] includes photographs and caricatures as well as paintings, drawings and sculpture. Not all of the portraits are exceptional artistically, although there are self-portraits by William Hogarth, Sir Joshua Reynolds and other British artists of note. Some, such as the group portrait of the participants in the Somerset House Conference of 1604, are important historical documents in their own right.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 VI, Patrick Branwell Brontë's painting of his sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne, or a sculpture of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in medieval costume. Portraits of living figures were allowed from 1969. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. ... London (pronounced ) is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom(coming from Roman Londinium ). An important settlement for around two millennia, London is today one of the worlds most important business and financial centres, [1] and its involvement in politics, culture, education, entertainment, media, fashion, sport and... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification - by Athelstan AD 927 Area - Total 130,395 kmÂ² (1st in UK) 50,346 sq mi Population - 2005 est. ... It has been suggested that Portrait painting be merged into this article or section. ... A photograph (often shortened to photo) is an image created by focusing light onto material having a light-sensitive coating. ... A caricature of director Quentin Tarantino, using pieces of overlapped construction paper and color pencil, by Luigi Novi. ... The Mona Lisa is one of the most recognizable artistic paintings in the Western world. ... Drawing is the act of defining (or delineating) the outlines of a figure against a background, using any of a wide variety of tools and techniques. ... An Italian Futurist sculpture by Umberto Boccioni at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City (MoMA). ... William Hogarth, self-portrait, 1745 William Hogarth (November 10, 1697 â€“ October 26, 1764) was a major English painter, engraver, pictorial satirist, and editorial cartoonist who has been credited as a pioneer in western sequential art. ... Sir Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (July 16, 1723–February 23, 1792) was the most important and influential of eighteenth-century English painters, specialising in portraits and promoting the Grand Style in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. ... The central courtyard of Somerset House in London. ... Anamorphic projection is a modification of the aspect ratio of an image by optical distortion which stretches or compresses the image in one dimension but not the other. ... Edward VI (12 October 1537 â€“ 6 July 1553) became King of England and Ireland on 28 January 1547, at just nine years of age. ... Branwell BrontÃ«, self portrait, 1840 Patrick Branwell BrontÃ« (26 June 1817 â€“ 24 September 1848) was a painter and poet, the only son of the BrontÃ« family, and the brother of the writers Charlotte, Emily and Anne. ... Charlotte BrontÃ« (IPA: ) (April 21, 1816 â€“ March 31, 1855) was an English novelist, the eldest of the three BrontÃ« sisters whose novels have become enduring classics of English literature. ... Portrait by her brother Emily Jane BrontÃ« (July 30, 1818 â€“ December 19, 1848) was an English novelist and poet, best remembered for her only novel Wuthering Heights, which is now an acknowledged classic of English literature. ... Anne BrontÃ« (January 17, 1820 â€“ May 28, 1849) was a British novelist and poet, the youngest of the BrontÃ« literary family. ... Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 â€“ 22 January 1901) was the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837, and the first Empress of India from 1 January 1877, until her death in 1901. ... Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (Francis Charles Augustus Albert Emmanuel, of the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha branch of the House of Wettin) (26 August 1819 - 14 December 1861) was the husband and consort of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. ...

The Gallery moved to its present building north of and adjacent to the National Gallery in 1896. It was designed by Ewan Christian in a Neo-Renaissance style and has been expanded twice. The first extension was funded by Lord Duveen in 1933, whose wing runs along Orange Street, and the second by Dr. Christopher Ondaatje in 2000. The Ondaatje Wing occupies a slither of land between the two 19th-century buildings of the National Gallery and the NPG and is notable for its immense, two-storey escalator that takes visitors to the earliest part of the collection, the Tudor portraits. The National Gallery from Trafalgar Square The National Gallery is an art gallery in London, located on the north side of Trafalgar Square. ... ChÃ¢teau de FerriÃ¨res 1855 Mentmore Towers English Neo-Renaissance of the 1850s. ... Joseph Duveen (1869 – 1939), later made Baron Duveen of Millbank, was one of the most influential art dealers of all time. ... Sir Philip Christopher Ondaatje, KBE , OC (born February 22, 1933) is a businessman and author. ... Allegory of the Tudor dynasty (detail), attributed to Lucas de Heere, ca 1572: left to right, Philip II of Spain, Mary, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Elizabeth The Tudor period usually refers to the historical period between 1485 and 1558, especially in relation to the history of England. ...

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 Prize competition. British Petroleum plc took over sponsorship of the National Portrait Gallerys annual portraiture competition in 1989, from John Player, the tobacco company, and has sponsored it since then. ...

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Categories: Art museums and galleries in London | Museums sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport | Westminster There are over 240 museums in London. ... The centre of the museum was redeveloped in 2000 to become the Great Court, with a tessellated glass roof by Buro Happold and Foster and Partners surrounding the original Reading Room. ... The public entrance to the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms is a small hole on the corner of a very grand building. ... The Design Museum is a museum in Shad Thames, near Tower Bridge in central London. ... Dulwich Picture Gallery is an art gallery in Dulwich, London. ... The Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art is a museum in Canonbury Square in the district of Islington on the northern fringes of central London. ... Sigmund Freuds couch used during psychoanalytic sessions can be found at the Freud Museum In 1938, the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, left Vienna after the Nazi annexation of Austria and moved to London, taking up residence at 20 Maresfield Gardens in Hampstead, Londons most intellectual suburb. ... Geffrye Museum frontage. ... Hayward Gallery, London The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the South Bank Centre, situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, in central London, England. ... HMS Belfast (C35) is an Edinburgh-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy. ... Categories: Museum stubs | London attractions ... The Imperial War Museum is a museum in London featuring military vehicles, weapons, war memorabilia, a library, a photographic archive, and an art collection of 20th century and later conflicts, especially those involving Britain, and the British Empire. ... Metropolitan Railway steam locomotive number 23, the only surviving locomotive from the worlds first underground railway, is preserved in the museum Londons Transport Museum, formerly known as the London Transport Museum, is a museum which seeks to conserve and explain the transport heritage of London, the capital city... Interior showing the Mayors state coach The Museum of London documents the history of London from the Palaeolithic to the present day. ... The National Gallery from Trafalgar Square The National Gallery is an art gallery in London, located on the north side of Trafalgar Square. ... The National Maritime Museum, Greenwich The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is the leading maritime museum of the United Kingdom, and one of the most important in the world. ... The Natural History Museum from the south east The Natural History Museum, one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, Kensington, London (the others are the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum), is home to life and earth science collections comprising some 70 million items. ... The Queens Gallery is a public art gallery located at Buckingham Palace, home of the British monarch, in London. ... This article refers to an art institution in London. ... The Saatchi Gallerys new premises in Chelsea, opening early 2007. ... The National Science Museum in London The Science Museum on Exhibition Road, Kensington, London, is part of the National Museum of Science and Industry. ... The Serpentine Gallery is an art gallery in Kensington Gardens, central London, which focuses on modern and contempory art. ... The Soane Museum is a museum of architecture, and was formerly the house and studio of Sir John Soane. ... The central courtyard of Somerset House in London. ... The Courtauld Institute of Art is a listed organisation of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art. ... The Gilbert Collection was formed by the English businessman Sir Arthur Gilbert, who made most of his fortune in the property business in California. ... The Hermitage Rooms at Somerset House in London are a venue for temporary exhibitions of items from the collections of the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg in Russia. ... Tate Britain is a part of the Tate Gallery in Britain, along with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. ... Tate Modern from the Millennium Bridge Tate Modern from St Pauls Cathedral. ... The Theatre Museum in the Covent Garden district of London is the United Kingdoms national museum of the performing arts. ... The Cromwell Road entrance to the Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum viewed from Thurloe Square The main interior courtyard of the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2004. ... Exterior of the museum The official opening of the Bethnal Green Museum by the Prince of Wales in 1872. ... The Wallace Collection is a national art museum located in London. ... The Whitechapel Gallery, founded 1901, was one of the first publicly-funded galleries for temporary exhibitions in London. ...

Encyclopedia > National Portrait Gallery (London)

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