Mexborough, a small mining village to the western edge of the Doncaster Metropolitan Borough area, is a one time mining community which has been home to a surprising number of well-known individuals. Perhaps the most famous of those was the Poet Laureate Ted Hughes, who lived there between 1937 and 1948, when his father ran […]
In 1856 the German art historian and Director of the Berlin Gemäldegalerie, Gustav Friedrich Waagen, arrived at Osterley Park House bearing a letter of introduction to the housekeeper. Waagen was granted access and inspected Osterley’s collection of art with the ‘utmost ease and liberty’, commenting upon works by Van Dyck, Rubens and Reynolds, and noting […]
The Understanding British Portraits study day at Knole offered an enriching variety of informed presentations by scholars engaged in the study and preservation of the house and its collection. The day’s talks were divided into two sections, each concluding with a tour and time for discussion. As a first-time visitor, I felt privileged to absorb […]
From 2010, The Courtauld Gallery took part in the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad programme Stories of the World. This was the biggest youth engagement project ever undertaken by UK museums across the nation and during that time, the Courtauld worked closely with a group of 20 young people aged between 16 and 19, from Widening […]
Saraid Jones received a Bursary from Understanding British Portraits in October 2013. Here she reflects on the aims of her chosen project. My fascination with the portrait of Thomas, 2nd Lord Berwick painted by Angelica Kauffman (left) began when I read the story of his Grand Tour. The Volunteers’ Library at Attingham Park is […]
This year I have been a fortunate recipient of the UBP bursary, an opportunity that has allowed me to learn more about specific artworks in Pallant House Gallery’s collection of British Pop Art. The benefits of my research have had huge impact, none more so than in my ability to curate informed exhibitions and displays […]
Idealistic, spiritual and known as the ‘Signor’ to his intimate friends, George Frederic Watts was one of the most sought after portrait painters of the Victorian age. Soon Watts’ correspondence will be fully searchable online, opening a resource to discover this significant artist as well as the culture of Victorian celebrity. After Watts’ death in […]
Queen Caroline has proudly surveyed the Octagon Room at Orleans House Gallery since we opened 40 years ago. Given our dynamic exhibition programme, she’s the only part of the Richmond Borough Art Collection that you are guaranteed to see every time you visit. We love to share stories about the occasion in 1729 when she […]
We have been extremely fortunate this year to be awarded a bursary from the Understanding British Portraits Network. I work as part of the Learning Team at the Laing Art Gallery, where we currently run a successful schools workshop interpreting one of our most famous paintings, Isabella and the Pot of Basil by William Holman […]
Harriet Jordan (left) might well be seated in her sitting room interrupting her sewing to look up at the camera. In reality, she was photographed when a patient at Bethlem Royal Hospital. This photograph and others like it could, at least on first viewing, have been plucked from a family album, so far removed […]
