- Wikidata identifier:
- Q238587
- Also known as:
- Great Britain National Portrait Gallery, London National Portrait Gallery, NPG, National Portrait Gallery (London), National Portrait Gallery London, NPG London
- Instance of:
- art museum; national museum; non-departmental public body
- Museum/collection status:
- Accredited museum
- Accreditation number:
- 325
- Persistent shareable link for this record:
- https://museumdata.uk/museums/q238587/
Collection-level records:
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Collection history (Collection development policy)
The National Portrait Gallery, the first such gallery of its kind when it was formally established on 2 December 1856, is the national museum responsible for celebrating the leading figures in British history and the history of British Portraiture.
The Gallery acquires portraits from the life in all media, whether by purchase, bequest, transfer, acceptance in lieu, allocation or gift, of the most nationally-significant persons in British history from the earliest times to the present day. The concept of a Primary Collection of paintings, sculpture, miniatures and a Reference Collection or study collection of prints was established immediately following the Gallery’s foundation in 1856 and then later reflected in the Museums and Galleries Act 1992. The collections fulfil the enduring function:
- to act as a national focus for the study and understanding of portraits and British history through portraiture.
In the early 1960s photographs were formally added to the Collection and in 1969 the Gallery began to collect living sitters, representing a move towards contemporary representations of portraiture. Since 1980 the Gallery has hosted an annual portrait prize exhibition, and has regularly commissioned portraits in all media that represent living sitters.
Source: Collection development policy
Date: Not known
Licence: CC BY-NC
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Collection overview (Collection development policy)
The Primary Collection of paintings, sculpture, miniatures, drawings, prints, photographs, silhouettes and mixed/new media works contains some 12,700 portraits of the most famous people in British history. Of these, over 4000 are paintings, sculptures and miniatures, approaching 60% of which are regularly displayed at the Gallery or elsewhere on loan. In addition, there are over 8,500 works on paper, shown on a rotating basis of about 120 items a year to avoid excessive light exposure and thus to minimise deterioration and fading.
The Reference Collection contains portraits, predominantly printed portraits and a smaller collection of drawings and sketchbooks, together with silhouettes and caricatures, which have been acquired primarily for research and documentary purposes and to provide a supplementary context for the Gallery’s Primary Collection. The Reference Collection is primarily housed in the Heinz Archive & Library and contains approximately 85,000 works on paper, 2,800 drawings, 75 paintings and 170 sculptures, and a small but growing collection of popular ceramics. This unique national resource allows the Gallery to collect beyond the acquisition criteria for the main Collection, and are drawn upon for display purposes as well as supporting learning activities and research into portraiture at the Gallery.
The Heinz Archive and Library also contains 40,000 books and manages the Gallery’s Records and Collected Archives.
The Contemporary Portrait Collection, which used to be standalone, is now part of the Primary and Reference Collections.
The Gallery also holds an important Photographs Collection which spans both the Primary and Reference Collections; it comprises more than 250,000 original photographic images of which at least 130,000 are original negatives. They date from the 1840s to the present day.
Source: Collection development policy
Date:
Licence: CC BY-NC