Supporting the Gallery's Collections

The success of the National Portrait Gallery depends heavily on external help from a wide range of funds, trusts, foundations, charities and individuals. Acquiring portraits for the collection would not be possible without such support, nor would associated work in displaying, understanding and researching the collection. This new section of the website focuses on public and charitable sources of support for the collection. It is intended to add further to the listing.

The Heritage Lottery Fund was founded in 1994 and is celebrated its 10th birthday in November 2004. The Fund uses money from the National Lottery and give grants to support a wide range of projects involving the local, regional and national heritage of the United Kingdom, enabling us to celebrate, look after and learn more about our diverse heritage. From great museums and historic buildings to local parks, or recording and celebrating traditions and customs, HLF grants open up the nation's heritage for everyone to enjoy.

The Heritage Lottery Fund's support has been essential to a number of major projects at the National Portrait Gallery:

• the new Ondaatje Wing which opened in May 2000
• the new Regency Galleries, opened May 2003
• the complete refurbishment of the Gallery's displays at Bodelwyddan Castle in 2003.
• the current three-year programme, Reaching Out, Drawing In, which is a key part of the Gallery's educational and outreach work
• the complete refurbishment of the Gallery's displays at Beningbrough Hall in 2006

The Heritage Lottery Fund has also the enabled the Gallery to acquire several portraits of outstanding significance since 1996:

1996 Henry Fuseli, marble bust by Edward Hodges Bailey, 1824

1997 Charles II when a boy, painting by an unknown artist, 1630

1998 The Duchess of Windsor, painting by Gerald Leslie Brockhurst, 1939

2000 Horace Walpole, painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds, about 1756-57

2002 Louise Jopling, painting by Sir John Everett Millais, 1879

2003 Mary Moser, painting by George Romney, about 1770-71

The National Heritage Memorial Fund was set up under the National Heritage Act 1980 in memory of people who have given their lives for the United Kingdom. The Fund celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2005. The aim of the Fund is to defend the most outstanding parts of our National Heritage.

The National Heritage Memorial Fund has been vital in enabling the Gallery to acquire many portraits of outstanding significance since 1984:

1984 William Jones, painting by William Hogarth, 1740

1985 The Shudi Family, painting by Marcus Tuscher, about 1742

1985 Horatio Nelson, Viscount Nelson, painting by Sir William Beechey, 1800

1985 Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, marble bust by Louis François Roubiliac, 1745

1986 Alexander Pope, marble bust by Michael Rysbrack, 1730

1986 Sir Joseph Banks, painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1771-73

1987 Carl Friedrich Abel, painting by Thomas Gainsborough, about 1765

1987 John Belasyse, Baron Belasyse, painting by Gilbert Jackson, 1636

1987 Lord George Stuart, painting by Sir Anthony Van Dyck, about 1638

1988 John Ruskin when a boy, painting by James Northcote, 1822

1991 John Wilkes and his daughter, Mary, painting by Johan Zoffany, exhibited 1782

1992 Charles Vane-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, painting by Sir Thomas Lawrence, 1812

1992 John Evelyn, painting by Robert Walker, 1648

1992 Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford, painting by Pompeo Batoni, 1752-56

1993 The Mission of Mercy: Florence Nightingale receiving the Wounded at Scutari, painting by Jerry Barrett, 1857

1993 Queen Victoria's First Visit to her Wounded Soldiers, painting by Jerry Barrett, 1856

1994 Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, miniature attributed to Hans Holbein, about 1532-33, and miniature from the Studio of Hans Holbein, about 1537

2003 Alice Liddell and her siblings, a collection of twelve photographs and negatives by Lewis Carroll and one photograph by an unknown photographer, 1858-70 (purchased jointly with the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, Bradford)

2004 Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, painting by an Anglo-Netherlandish artist, 1565

2004 Barbara Palmer, Duchess of Cleveland with her son, painting by Sir Peter Lely, about 1664

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All images and text are subject to copyright protection. 06 October 2008