Palace Green Library, established by Bishop John Cosin (1595-1672). Durham University

Bursaries

Our annual bursary programme allowed early career professionals to develop their portrait specialism. The bursary programme ran from 2008 to 2015, and enabled almost forty collection-based professionals and researchers to complete projects which enhanced their research skills and collections knowledge, as well as delivering defined outputs for their collection. Synopses of all the past bursaries can be found below, and blogposts from recipients here.

We now offer a Fellowship programme, further details here.

2015: Sarah Backhouse, Exhibition coordinator, Royal College of Physicians, London

Initial scope The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) owns a painting by Johan Zoffany, ‘William Hunter lecturing at the Royal Academy’, painted c.1770-2. It is one of the most significant paintings in our collection, but we don’t fully understand what, or rather who, it represents. William Hunter – who became a licentiate of the RCP […]

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Chris Burton, Exhibitions and Collection Assistant, Orleans House Gallery

Initial Scope My initial scope was to research the attribution for the portrait of Sir Richard Francis Burton, in Arab dress depicted on his pilgrimage to Mecca. The Burton portrait in question is immensely popular with general visitors, researchers and people engaged with our education programme. Unfortunately, the work lacks a firm artist’s attribution and […]

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Anna Moore, Acting Curator, Sculpture, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Watch Anna’s short film here: Please accept statistics, marketing cookies to enable this. Initial Scope The V&A has one of the largest collections of wax sculpture in the country with approximately 550 objects. As part of my role in the Sculpture department I look after this collection, which involves the care, presentation and research of […]

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Jennifer Taylor, Visitor Experience Officer, National Trust, Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal

Initial scope The main aim of the project was to engage our visitors in the story of the Mallory portrait, owners of the Studley Royal estate in the seventeenth century. We didn’t know an awful lot about the painting – why it was commissioned, who painted it, or the date it was created, so there […]

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Demelza Williams, Curator for Northern Ireland, National Trust

Initial scope The National Trust has recently entered into a loan agreement with the 10th Marquess of Londonderry and the Executors of the Londonderry Estate for an extensive loan of family-owned works of art and memorabilia. The loan includes twenty-seven paintings: twenty-three of which are family portraits including nine by Sir Thomas Lawrence. As the […]

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Paul Willis, postgraduate student, formerly Curator (Fine Art), Plymouth Museum

Scope of project Sir Joshua Reynolds, the eighteenth-century portrait painter, was born in Plympton, Devon, on 16 July 1723. Throughout his life he maintained strong associations with his birthplace and the surrounding areas of Plymouth and Devon. Through his portraiture and writings, Reynolds became a pivotal figure in the development of the British School of […]

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2014: Jane Hardstaff, Audience Development Coordinator, Derby Museums

Initial scope My initial scope was to investigate strategies for engaging visitors, particularly families, with our Joseph Wright collection. Derby Museums is home to the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of Wright’s work, totalling around 600 items. In 2012, the collection achieved designated status, with associated Arts Council funding to make the collection more […]

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Saraid Jones, Engagement and Conservation Officer, Attingham Park (National Trust)

Initial Scope for the project Investigate the portrait of Thomas, 2nd Lord Berwick painted by Angelica Kauffman in 1793 and place it within the context of his Grand Tour and other work by Kauffman. Expand upon the current knowledge of Lord Berwick’s Grand Tour and his spending habits on paintings and other works of art. […]

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Alexandra O’Donnell, Learning and Community Assistant, The Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum

Initial Scope The aim of this project was to bridge a knowledge gap in our under-researched (and as a result under-utilised) collection of portraiture that we currently have on display, with the specific aim of developing a much needed learning offer for schools as a result of this research. In addition to researching collection items […]

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2013: Amy Marquis, Study Room Supervisor, The Graham Robertson Study Room, Department of Paintings, Drawings and Prints, The Fitzwilliam Museum

Scope of project The Fitzwilliam Museum received a self-portrait by the esteemed miniature portrait painter, John Smart Snr (1741-1811) to be displayed alongside our already strong collection of miniatures by this artist as well as others. This provided a good opportunity to research the self-portrait, dated 1783, and situate it within the collection, looking at […]

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Kate Jordan, Marketing Manager, National Trust

Scope of project To examine the use of portraits in the marketing of National Trust places. Marketing of portraits, and more broadly collections, is done effectively when a specific loan / exhibition requires it. While larger exhibitions are marketed online as well as at the properties running them, most information on smaller exhibitions or loans […]

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Katy Norris, Curatorial Assistant, Pallant House Gallery

Scope of project and summary of findings The purpose of my research was to better understand an important yet often under-recognised area of the gallery’s portrait collection, focusing on British Pop Art from one of the gallery’s most significant bequests, The Colin St John Wilson Gift. My study was centred primarily on three case studies, […]

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Caroline Smith, Education and Outreach, Bethlem Archives and Museum Service

The project aimed to examine a particular part of the collection, namely the photographs of patients taken by Henry Hering between 1857-59. These represent an important part of the archive but research into them has been sporadic. The intention was to place them more firmly into the context of both contemporary medical illustration and general […]

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Anne Fountain, Learning Officer, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle

Scope of project, and summary of findings The Laing Art Gallery wanted to develop the interpretation of the portrait collection for schools and families linked to the 18th and 19 century collection and Painted Faces exhibition. We currently deliver portrait sessions for schools led by the learning staff. We wanted to research how other museums […]

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Miranda Stearn, Arts and Heritage Development Co-ordinator, Orleans House Gallery

Scope of project We wished to undertake research into the provenance, attribution and iconography of Queen Caroline of Ansbach with her son, later the Duke of Cumberland, c. 1728, a portrait held in the Borough Art Collection of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and on permanent display in the Octagon room at Orleans […]

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2012: Jesse Campbell, Exhibition Research Assistant (Barber Institute of Fine Arts)/Postgraduate student intern (Universiteit Utrecht, Research Masters Programme ‘Art History of the Low Countries in its European Context’)

My project as a postgraduate research intern at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts centred on the lives of Sir Henry and Lady Barber, founders of the Institute. They amassed a personal art collection of objets d’art, textiles, furniture, and a few paintings, perhaps the most interesting being the commissioned portraits of Lady Barber.

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Amanda Martin, Curator/ Manager, Isles of Scilly Museum

My bursary research focused on identifying the artists of three nineteenth-century portraits in the collection of the Isles of Scilly Museum; Mrs Saundry, Francis John Banfield (1822–90) and Anne Laity Banfield (1831–90). Living in the Isles of Scilly means that the local press and the Internet are vital research tools and that study trips to […]

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Christina Le’Fley, House Steward, Killerton House, National Trust

This project investigated a cluster of eighteenth-century portraits among the important collection at Killerton House in Devon, home to the Acland family since the sixteenth century. They show Sir Thomas Dyke Acland 7th Baronet and his wife Elizabeth, and his eldest son John and his wife Harriet and the social reformer Hannah Moore. This is […]

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Connie Thomas, Volunteer and part-time Art Assistant, Plymouth City Museum & Art Gallery

The intention of the project was to research Nancy Astor and the way she was seen in the public eye in the context of changing women’s rights and as she held political power. I have examined comparative portraits, which present Astor in a number of different contexts. The three portraits studied were Lady Astor being […]

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Virginia Wilkinson, Learning Officer, Shipley Art Gallery

The aim of this project was to research engagement programmes and interpretation of portraiture, to provide a new learning programme for a year-long portraits exhibition at the Shipley Art Gallery, beginning in March 2012. I took the opportunity to attend the Understanding British Portraits Annual Seminar at the National Portrait Gallery, and to visit the […]

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Ellin Belton, then House Steward, Greenway, National Trust

The catalyst to my applying for Understanding British Portraits Bursary was, whilst working as the House Steward at Greenway House in Devon I found a jumbled box of miniatures in storage. I focused my research on identification, material composition and basic history of miniatures in order to contribute to a miniatures display at Greenway for […]

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2011: Nigel Arthur, Curator (Stills), British Film Institute

The bursary has combined my interest in the films of Powell and Pressburger, known as The Archers and photographer Fred Daniels (1892-1959). Daniels worked consistently with Powell and Pressburger at the peak of their career as a portrait photographer. He was given exclusive access in order to promote their films. The Archers are widely recognised […]

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Paul Holden, House and Collections Manager, Lanhydrock

My aim was to assess the connoisseurship and collecting habits of the first four Earls of Radnor and perhaps in the process recognise the provenance of our collectionsl at Lanhydrock. Looking predominantly at portraiture my two trips to London took me to the NPG Heinz archive, the V&A art library to look at auction records […]

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Catriona Pearson, Curatorial Assistant, Shipley Art Gallery, and Laing Art Gallery

The aim of this project was to research and provide interpretation for several portraits from collections at Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums, for a year-long portraits exhibition at the Shipley Art Gallery beginning in March 2012. I examined various interpretive approaches, other than text labels, to encourage visitor engagement with the paintings and create […]

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Hannah Toohill, Volunteer, Bridport Museum, Dorset

My bursary project involved research into a portrait named The Woodman by Francis Henry Newbery (1855-1946) which was acquired in 2010 by Bridport Museum in Dorset. Newbery was celebrated as the director of the Glasgow School of Art from 1885 to 1917, where he was responsible for nurturing the talents of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. After […]

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Emma Lee, Learning Development Officer, Reading Museum & Town Hall

Reading Museum’s collection contains a portrait of Elizabeth I. Exciting recent research suggests that Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, may have commissioned it for the Kenilworth festivities of 1575. Similarities in the style, size and pose of the National Portrait Gallery portrait of Dudley and the Reading Elizabeth I are remarkable, leading to the suggestion […]

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Jo Cairns, Museum Assistant, Mount Edgcumbe House

The project set out to enhance our understanding of several seventeenth-century portraits in the Mount Edgcumbe collection, hopefully shedding new light on the story of the Edgcumbe family and therefore improving our ability to interpret these portraits for the public. The four portraits chosen for the project were of unidentified sitters and were by unidentified […]

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2010: Dr Rupert Goulding, Curator, North Wessex The National Trust

The project set out to research the portraits at Dyrham Park, looking at the collection of 112 works purchased by William Blathwayt from his uncle Thomas Povey in 1693. The aim was to consider the relationships Blathwayt sought to articulate through Povey’s portraiture, to investigate for what purpose Blathwayt bought the portraits in the collection, […]

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Kate Downey, Collections Access Assistant, Hartlepool Museum and Heritage Service

For my placement I conducted research into works by four artists in Hartlepool Museums and Heritage Service’s collection. These included Mrs Wainwright, Arthur Benson and Colonel Pounder by Stephen Crowther, A Hartlepool Fisherman by Philip Basil Bennison, A Hartlepool Fishwife by John William Howey and Negro by Enrico Equi. All artists are local to the […]

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Susan Mason, Regional Learning and Interpretation Officer, National Trust (Wales)

The intended scope of my work was to examine a selection of family portraits at Plas Newydd in Anglesey dating from the seventeenth to the early twentieth centuries, which represent a range of social contexts and different styles of portraiture. These paintings have been underutilised in the past, and I felt the visitor interpretation could […]

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Magdalen Evans, independent scholar

The impetus for my research sprang from a dissertation completed at the University of East Anglia twenty years ago, the inspiration of which I had put on hold until I had the chance to organise a touring exhibition, Utmost Fidelity in 2009 which travelled to five UK museums. This was the first occasion where work […]

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2009: Sigute Barniskyte, Assistant Visitor Services Manager, Lodge Park & Chedworth Roman Villa, The National Trust, Gloucestershire

My placement involved the research and interpretation of the collection of portraits at Lodge Park, National Trust; the ultimate purpose was to bring the picture display to life and to enhance our visitors’ experience. A day was spent examining the object files at the National Trust’s London area office, and a further two at the […]

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Helen Ivaldi, Collections Officer (Interpretation), Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum, Bournemouth

The impetus for my research was the forthcoming exhibition Hidden Gems: 20th Century Faces, at the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum (28 August 2009 – 30 April 2010. My time was spent primarily at the NPG’s Heinz Archive, where I was able to use the extensive library to research a number of our paintings including […]

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Emma House, Keeper of Fine Art, The Bowes Museum

For my placement I identified four paintings from The Bowes Museum’s collection on which to carry out research. These included Allan Ramsay’s Man in a Red Coat whose identity can now be confirmed as the 10th Earl of Rothes. Sir Joshua Reynolds’ Portrait of a Lady has been traditionally identified as representing Mrs. Hester Thrale, […]

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2008: Robin Diaper, Curator of the Guildhall, Hull Museums

In my research I intended to focus on three artists represented within the Guildhall collection: George Pycock Green (active 1840-1893), Ernest Gustave Girardot (1840-1905) and Benjamin Hudson (c.1817-1900). I wanted to discover all I could about them and in particular about their links to Hull and when they might have practised in the area. I […]

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Simon McCormack, National Trust House & Collections Manager, Kedleston Hall

My research at the National Portrait Gallery was undertaken towards the creation of a new picture guide for visitors to Kedleston Hall providing support for the Curator of Paintings and Sculpture and his assistant. My research identified several re-attributions of paintings on display as well as providing valuable contextual information on artists and related works […]

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Matthew Edwards Collection Access Assistant (Art), Derby Museum and Art Gallery

Derby Museum and Art Gallery has the largest collection of paintings by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734-1797). I was particularly interested in the NPG’s different approaches to portrait interpretation, and with the assistance of an Understanding British Portraits toolkit created by Claire Gittings during her time at Beningborough Hall I began to focus on just […]

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Liz Waring, Curator of Visual Art, Museums Sheffield

The overarching objective of this placement was to research 17th century British portraiture within the South Yorkshire region. Five public institutions that hold 17th century portraits were identified (Cannon Hall Museum, Barnsley; Cooper Art Gallery, Barnsley; Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery; Rotherham Art Gallery; and Museums Sheffield) and visits were arranged to view the works. […]

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