Dame Helen Gardner Fund

The literary critic and scholar, Dame Helen Gardner (1909-86), who was a Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery (1967-78), bequeathed the Gallery her royalties on her book, The New Oxford Book of English Verse. The Fund’s purpose is to facilitate the purchase of English literary portraits, and portraits of late 16th-century and early 17th-century sitters. The Fund has been vital in securing the acquisition of a number of important works.

A selection of works acquired with help from the Dame Helen Gardner bequest.

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The Memoir Club
by Vanessa Bell
circa 1943
NPG 6718

Doris Lessing
by Leonard William McComb
1999
NPG 6517(1)

Doris Lessing
by Leonard William McComb
1999
NPG 6517(2)

Sebastian Faulks
by Matthew Carr
2008
NPG 6846

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