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“Far more popular than any portrait gallery ever before”: The Sir George Scharf Sketchbooks at the National Portrait Gallery by Philip Cottrell
1857 was an annus mirabilis for both George Scharf (1820-1895) and the cultural life of the United Kingdom due to his crucial role in two watershed events: the foundation of the National Portrait Gallery and the staging of the Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition. A new database devoted to Scharf’s activities during this period has now […]
Ham House study day, and Lely at Middle Temple, by Lesley Whitelaw
The November visit to Ham House more than lived up to the very high standard of study days arranged by Understanding British Portraits. Once more the combination of excellent expert speakers covering a wide range of relevant topics, a superb venue and seamless organisation, made for a thoroughly fascinating and enjoyable day. I am very […]
Art Detective: learning more about British portraits by Dr Marion Richards
‘The National Portrait Exhibition having led to the exposure of so many errors with regard to the portraits of British worthies and the artists who painted them – it turning out in many cases that the names given were in both respects altogether wrong – it has been suggested that county magnates and others interested […]
Thoughts on Understanding British Portraits Annual Seminar 2018 by Ben Hartley
As custodian of British portraits that form part an NHS arts collection, I have been a member of Understanding British Portraits for some time. This year’s Annual Seminar was the second I have attended and I was interested to follow new research findings from the network and hear the speakers’ curatorial case studies. As a […]
See Portraits, Be Portraits by Su Hepburn, Senior Learning Officer, Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton
Brighton Museum is part of The National Gallery Masterpiece Tour 2018 and currently has on display A Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling by Hans Holbein the Younger. To accompany this is the See Portraits, Be Portraits exhibition showcasing portraits from our own fine art collection. The exhibition has been curated with local school […]
‘The Twins’: Creating a Resource for Research, by Kate Noble and Lucy Shipp
In 2016 we were very fortunate to be awarded funding from the Understanding British Portraits Professional Partnership Fellowship to research The Twins by John Everett Millais and create a learning resource for young people. We hoped that our project would help to reveal more about the role of women in the Victorian age, whose stories have for many years only been told […]
A re-discovered portrait of Charles Marsh FSA by L.F. Abbott from the 1790s
Society of Antiquaries of London lecture by Maurice Howard, FSA The recent gift to the Society of this sensitive and haunting portrait enables investigation of the lively debate about antiquities in the late 18th century, the way that learned gentlemen of considerable means chose to create their self-image and, since Marsh lived at Twickenham, its […]
In-gallery conservation: Project Blue Boy from 22 September 2018, Huntington Art Gallery, California
Project Blue Boy will allow visitors to watch and learn about high-tech analysis and treatment of Thomas Gainsborough’s 18th-century masterpiece in the Huntington Art Gallery. One of the most iconic artworks in British and American history, The Blue Boy, made around 1770, undergoes its first major technical examination and conservation treatment in public view, in […]
Insight into an industry: a new portrait for Temple Newsam House, Leeds, by Dr Rachel Conroy
As a decorative art specialist, I have been taking my first tentative steps into fine art since being appointed as curator at Temple Newsam House two years ago. Earlier this year, I was very excited to acquire a John Russell (1745-1806) portrait of Savile Green, Senior (1743-1805; Fig. 1).¹ Green was a key figure in […]
