Commissioning portraits

The National Portrait Gallery commissions about six portraits a year as part of its commitment to collecting portraits of those who have made an important contribution to British history and culture. Over the last twenty-five years, it has commissioned some 140 portrait paintings, sculptures, drawings and works in mixed media, about six a year, as well as many photographs. These portraits now form the backbone of the contemporary displays.

Commissioning chronology

Choosing the subject
The National Portrait Gallery collection is by necessity selective rather than comprehensive, and this applies even more so to the commissioning programme which is intended to supplement rather than replace other forms of collecting. Decisions on subjects for commissions are made annually by the Gallery Trustees as a body, with a view to selecting about half a dozen individuals from a longer list.

List of sitters invited by the Gallery to be the subject of a commissioned portrait - up to December 2009:

Sir Tim Berners-Lee
Shami Chakrabarti
Sir Martin Evans
Dame Kelly Holmes
James Lovelock
Neil MacGregor
Dame Anne Owers
Sir Michael Parkinson
Sir Simon Rattle
Dame Maggie Smith
Sir Willard White
Dame Vivienne Westwood
Ken Livingstone
Sir James Dyson

Suggestions for future commissions may be sent to rbroadley@npg.org.uk or left on Visitor Comment forms at the Information Desk at the Gallery. In making suggestions it is advisable to check whether the Gallery already has a portrait by checking this website under search the collection.

The commissioning process

Working with the artist
The choice of artist for a commission is naturally very important. If there is a prior connection with the sitter this can be helpful. Current practice is to meet with the prospective sitter to discuss the choice of artist, perhaps stimulated by an exploration of portraits on display at the Gallery. The Gallery has consistently been willing to take risks, whether by encouraging young artists or by approaching more established artists who may not undertake portrait commissions. By commissioning portraits in a range of media and from a variety of good artists, the Gallery hopes to encourage portraiture and to keep the representation of the human figure very much alive.

Interviews with photographers
Photograph commissions
The annual BP Portrait Award

Creating the portrait
Once artist and sitter have met and the scale and nature of a commission have been agreed, the Gallery will usually do no more than act as an occasional observer to the process, encouraging, on occasion influencing, or facilitating where there are difficulties.

Find out more about the process from individual case studies: 
A.S. Byatt: an abstract portrait

Read how individual artists went about their commissions: 
Tom Phillip's Iris Murdoch
Humphrey Ocean's Tony Benn
Ross Wilson's Derek Walcott