Of selfies and other portraits

January 3, 2025January 10, 2025 by Jessica In England, London Leave a comment

National Portrait Gallery

The National Portrait Gallery is dedicated to people who are considered to be either important or “famous” and who hail from the British Isles (or made their mark there).

The gallery holds a significant collection of Tudor portraiture, spanning several generations.

*Queen Elizabeth I* by Nicholas Hilliard

*Mary Neville, Lady Dacre; Gregory Fiennes, 10th Baron Dacre* by Hans Eworth

*Jane Seymour*, after Hans Holbein the Younger

*Katherine Parr*, attributed to Master John

*Mary, Queen of Scots*, after Nicholas Hilliard

*Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester* by Unknown

*Queen Elizabeth I (The Ditchley Portrait)* by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger

*King Henry VIII; King Henry VII* by Hans Holbein the Younger

Established in 1856, the National Portrait Gallery is considered to be the first gallery of its kind. Its first object was the Chandos Portrait, believed to be of William Shakespeare, though this identity is disputed.

*Queen Charlotte* and *King George III* by the studio of Allan Ramsay

*Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales* by George Dawe

*Queen Victoria*, replica by Sir George Hayter

*Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha*, replica by Franz Xaver Winterhalter

The gallery was first conceived by Philip Henry Stanhope, Thomas Babington Macaulay, and Thomas Carlyle. Stanhope first proposed it to Parliament in 1846, when he was a member, though it was not accepted until ten years later.

*Mrs Siddons and the Emblems of Tragedy* by Sir William Beechey

The gallery was originally established at Great George Street, and changed location numerous times before arriving at its current home and officially opening in 1896.

*Catharine Macaulay* by Robert Edge Pine

*The Royal Family at Buckingham Palace* by Sir John Lavery

*Louise Jane Jopling (née Goode, later Rowe)* by Sir John Everett Millais

In 2012, the Duchess of Cambridge announced the National Portrait Gallery as one of her patronages, with her first official portrait being unveiled the following year.