num_pages: 130
description: THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY was founded in 1856 to bring together the greatest names in British history and culture from the late Middle Ages to the present day. Its main collection now includes almost 10,000 works, from panel paintings to video portraits, from miniatures to larger-than-life sculptures.The Visitor's Guide is designed both as a companion for the visitor walking round the Gallery, and as an introduction to the Gallery's history and the full range of its resources and activities. Beginning with the Gallery's exceptional Tudor portraits, housed on the top floor, it leads the visitor on a chronological tour through the building, featuring some of the most important faces of the last 500 years. Highlights include the Ditchley Portrait of Elizabeth I, Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel and Surrey by Rubens, Lady Venetia Stanley by Van Dyck, the self-portraits of William Hogarth and Sir Joshua Reynolds, the only contemporary portrait of Jane Austen, the triple portrait of the Bronte sisters, George Beresford's photographic study of the young Virginia Woolf, Andy Warhol's homage to Queen Elizabeth II, and Helmut Newton's giant icon of Margaret Thatcher, with some of the Gallery's most important and interesting works explained for the visitor in feature double-page spreads. A final section explores different portrait media and takes the visitor behind the scenes to introduce the work of the Gallery's conservation studio, its frame shop, and the immense resources of its archive.With 95 illustrations, 89 in colour.
language: English
title: A Visitors Guide: Gallery Only
titlecomplete: A Visitors Guide: Gallery Only
publisher: National Portrait Gallery Publications