Thursday

National Portrait Gallery London



When I visited London last week, I had a spare couple of hours so I spent them doing what I do best- Spending some quality time gazing at art. The National Portrait Gallery, just around the corner from Trafalgar Square, is a fantastic gallery devoted to portraiture of all kinds and is divided into three floors, each one corresponding to a different time period from the Tudors up to the modern day. Size wise, it's just about perfect: I cover the whole thing in an hour or two.

Anne Boleyn by an unknown artist (circa 1533).

I was really drawn to this portrait of Charles Fitzroy by Sir Godfrey Kneller (circa 1703) because of how effeminate he is. He really stands out in the wall of other aristocrats.



For its time, this self portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds (circa 1747) is very unusual. The lighting in the gallery is perfectly positioned so it looks as though the subject is really alive.


Seeing the unfinished process of this painting of William Wilberforce by Sir Thomas Lawrence (1828) is fascinating. 

This is one of my favourite pieces in the gallery: The House of Commons, 1833 by Sir George Hayter. It's hard to see from this photo but the scale is massive (17ft x 11ft, according to the website, which seems impossible!). Standing in front of it and looking up, I get dizzy, the way you do when you look up at a tall building. There is so much detail in every single face and I see something new every time I visit. 
 Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart by Sir William Newenham Montague Orpen (1919).
This is another of my favourites because it absolutely blows my mind. It looks like a photography but when up close, you can see all the individual brush strokes. It's incredible how anyone can paint this realistically.
The painting, Paul Nurse (Paul) by Jason Brooks (2008), is also on a pretty large scale, which just makes it even more impressive. 

Michael Rosen by Lee Fether (2011). 

There was a small exhibition featuring photographs of Vivien Leigh, supplemented by mementos such as magazines showing Leigh on the cover and film posters from her starring roles. I love seeing little glimpses of everyday life in the past, such as the newspapers and leaflets on show. 

My visit finished with a visit to the BP Portrait Award Exhibition. The talent absolutely blows me away every year. 
 Yep, that's a portrait of Timothy Spall, painted by Tim Wright

 I really recommend The National Portrait Gallery to any art fan visiting London. The central location is so convenient, and it's right next door to the National Gallery too. It's the perfect size and really easy to navigate, so it's ideal for slotting into a day of sightseeing. 

15 comments :

  1. The Paul Nurse painting is insane, I can't believe that's a painting!
    Hayley
    Water Painted Dreams xo

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  2. I love the national portrait gallery as well - even though I've been quite a lot, I love to pop in if I'm killing some time! Always enjoy the sciencey portraits as well. I recently went to Tate Britain which I enjoyed too! x

    Jasmin Charlotte

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    1. I haven't been to Tate Britain in SO long! They had an upheaval of the way they display work about a year ago and I keep meaning to see it.

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  3. The house of commons piece is amazing, there is so much detail for such a big piece :) I love visiting galleries with my sister, I'd love to go to London one day and visit the national portrait gallery, the national gallery and some of the other ones! x

    EmmiHearts

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    1. It blows my mind! I hope you get to London one day. The galleries are amazing (and free!)

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  4. I've been meaning to go here for so long now, I've done pretty much every gallery in London except for this one!
    xx

    Bekki | WALLFLOWER BLOG

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    1. I keep going back to the same ones. I need to throw myself out there a bit more.

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  5. Love the Michael Rosen! I went to the National Portrait Gallery with my class, but we barely got to see much of it as we had a talk from one of the staff. I'll need to go back and have a proper look around now!
    x

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    1. I always prefer visiting galleries on my own as I have no pressure to hurry up or slow down. I can just take it at my own pace.

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  6. Art has never really been my thing. I like pieces because I like it alone but I've never got into artists and eras and such. I'd probably go here on recommendation from another, than go here myself :) So I'll consider you my recommendation!

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    1. Haha if you do go, let me know what you think.

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  7. Lovely pictures! I'm not extremely into art but I do appreciate good pieces when I see it. You've chosen such fantastic paintings and described them in a way that I want to see them too so thanks.

    I only went to the National Portrait gallery very briefly and saw maybe one floor so I'm glad to see some of the pieces I missed here. :)

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    1. I love the National Portrait Gallery because it's not too big, so you can pretty much see everything in an hour.

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