BBC Great Britons

Trail

How to use this guide
Great Britons The top ten are spread across the National Portrait Gallery's three floors. The collection is arranged chronologically beginning on the second floor with the Tudors and ending in the present day on the ground floor.

Sound Guide
Free from the Information Desk, the Sound Guide features over 300 recordings about famous portraits in the collection. Commentaries on seven of the portraits from Great Britons The top ten are on the Sound Guide, indicated by the symbol A.

Each portrait has a unique NPG number. As well as an aid to identification, you can use the number to explore the collection further with the Gallery's innovative Woodward Portrait Explorer on the mezzanine floor and to order a print from the Gallery shop.

Diana, Princess of Wales (1961-97)
To mark the fifth anniversary of her death, the debate on Diana's significance has been stimulated afresh. Many have noticed a greater emotional range across the Royal Family's public appearances and statements, ascribed to Diana's example. Others continue to appreciate the sincerity of her commitment to the underprivileged and the skill of her management of a powerful and beautiful image.

Bryan Organ's portrait dates from those innocent days leading up to the spectacular fantasy of a wedding. It does, though, unwittingly presage the disaster to come. She sits informally, her face bland, but is confined by the rigid right angles of the Yellow Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace.

By Bryan Organ, 1981 Acrylic on canvas, NPG 5408

Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Churchill found the destiny he had marked out for himself as Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945. His colleagues admired his courage and vision, but were exasperated by his irregular working habits. His words evoked for the nation the triumphs of its past and the truculent, principled defiance, laced with eccentric humour, of its present.

This portrait by Walter Sickert was painted at Chartwell, where Churchill entertained the artist and, as he did with other artists, sought artistic guidance from him. It shows key elements of Churchill's forthright popular image, the smoking cigar and spotted bow tie, but seems introspective compared to the pugnacity of his war-time persona.

In room 30, there is a display dedicated to sketches of the destroyed portrait of Churchill by the artist Graham Sutherland.

By Walter Sickert, 1927 Oil on canvas, NPG 4438

John Lennon (1940-80)
John Lennon's raw energy created The Beatles, but their achievements left him unfulfilled. Having found his personal and artistic soul mate in Yoko Ono, he broke up the group and began an influential career as musician, artist and political activist. After a period as house husband, he was assassinated on the verge of another phase of productivity.

Robert Whitaker was granted extensive access to The Beatles by their manager Brian Epstein, and became close friends with John Lennon. This photograph anticipates the 'flower power' fashion of the following years, but also reminds us of Lennon's love of the bizarre and surreal in visual art and in the presentation of his own image.

By Robert Whitaker, 1965 Cibachrome print, NPG P374

Charles Darwin (1809-82)
There were many theories of evolution before Darwin. His big idea, the development of species through natural selection, based on exhaustive observation and experiment, introduced the rigour of true science into a field overgrown with uninformed speculation. His theories are still challenged by religious fundamentalists.

In John Collier's portrait, a replica of his original of 1881, Darwin appears as he did for his daily walk at Down House, his home in Kent. The image of a shy, unworldly gentleman-scholar, venerable and sagacious, seems appropriate, but masks the torment of developing ideas he knew to be offensive to many, including his wife.

By John Collier, 1883 Oil on canvas, NPG 1024

Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-59)
Isambard Kingdom Brunel built the biggest ship, the Great Eastern and the fastest railway, the Great Western, of the Victorian era. His visionary engineering pushed technology up to and sometimes beyond contemporary limits. In confronting mechanical and human problems he displayed creative thinking, physical and moral courage, professional integrity and private generosity.

This photograph by Robert Howlett was taken on 3 November 1857 as Brunel struggled to launch the Great Eastern. The vast chains, used to control the ship on its descent down the slipway, have come to represent both Brunel's ambition and achievements as well as Britain's industrial dynamism in the mid-Victorian era.

By Robert Howlett, 1857 Albumen print, NPG P112

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
The rich texture of his language and the breadth and subtlety of his understanding of the human condition continue to render Shakespeare the most performed and studied playwright in the world. Full appreciation of his contribution to the creation of our national identity came during Britain's struggle with France in the eighteenth century.

This is the only painting of Shakespeare with a solid claim to authenticity. A modest depiction, enlivened only by the intriguing earring, many subsequent versions and adaptations were made as artists sought to create an image commensurate with his reputation. It was the first portrait acquired by the newly founded National Portrait Gallery in 1856.

Attributed to John Taylor, c.1610 Oil on canvas, NPG 1

Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658)
A brilliant military organiser, trainer and battlefield commander during the English Civil Wars, he dominated subsequent political developments. Having led the move to try and execute King Charles I, he became Head of State as Lord Protector. His regime became increasingly personal, even monarchical. His son Richard succeeded him briefly and disastrously.

Robert Walker's portraits borrowed from Royalist artists such as Van Dyck to assert the authority of the Parliamentarian leadership. In this portrait, armour and the baton of command assert Cromwell's military power. To the right of this portrait, in the display case, another portrait (NPG 5589) by Samuel Cooper, a miniature painter much patronised by Cromwell and his family, gives us a more personal image.

By Robert Walker, c.1649 Oil on canvas, NPG 536

Elizabeth I (1533-1603)
Elizabeth I was an expert both in the substance and performance of power and monarchy. Her defiance of Catholic Spain consolidated England as a Protestant nation state. She never married, and although relying on experienced male advisers, projected female independence through the Virgin Queen imagery.

In room 2 we display three portraits that illustrate key aspects of her image. The cosmic omnipotence of this full-length portrait by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, contrasts with the naturalism and muted sovereignty of the c.1575 image (NPG 2082). The Coronation portrait (NPG 5175) shows the young woman in a traditional image of formal splendour and, in room 3, the miniature by Nicholas Hilliard (NPG 108) has virginal white roses.

By Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, c.1592 Oil on canvas, NPG 2561

Horatio Nelson, Viscount Nelson (1758-1805)
Nelson was Britain's most successful naval commander in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Already a national celebrity, his death at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 assured his immortality. His vulnerable humanity, evidenced by his spectacular love affair with Emma Hamilton, has made him a flesh and blood rather than a marble hero.

Contemporary and posthumous adulation led to hundreds of portraits in all media. This vivid sketch by Sir William Beechey, for a portrait commissioned by the city of Norwich, shows Nelson with brown rather than blue eyes. He wore numerous British and foreign decorations, as he did at Trafalgar, making him a conspicuous target on the deck of the Victory.

By Sir William Beechey, 1800 Oil on canvas, NPG 5798

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
Newton's work on gravity explained, in rational rather than theological terms, the forces controlling the equilibrium of the universe. This made him the intellectual godfather of the British Enlightenment, whose leaders enshrined his reputation during the eighteenth century. Although some of his science has been superseded, he remains an exemplary figure.

No retiring intellectual, Newton was a formidable Master of the Royal Mint and dominating President of the Royal Society. He used portraits to advertise his authority and status. In this portrait, he wears a fashionable wig; the artist has enlarged the pupils to intensify his gaze.

By Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1702 Oil on canvas, NPG 2881

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All images and text are subject to copyright protection. 20 November 2008