The Portrait Fund

Over the years limited purchase funds and rising prices in the art market have prevented the Gallery from acquiring portraits that would be significant additions to the Collection. In response the Gallery created the Portrait Fund in 2006, its 150th Anniversary year, to provide essential endowment funds for the acquisition of outstanding portraits for the Collection and for associated conservation, framing, display, research and interpretation costs.  

The Portrait Fund is fundamental if the Collection is to continue to evolve, bringing history to life, connecting it to contemporary issues and reflecting the developing views of British history.

How the Portrait Fund has helped
The Portrait Fund is being used to provide a stream of income enabling the Gallery to acquire works of art that fill identified weaknesses in both the historic and contemporary collections.  It has contributed to the recent acquisitions of:

• the Tudor double portrait masterpiece of Lady Dacre and her son by Hans Eworth
• a rare Joseph Wright of Derby portrait of Richard Arkwright, an industrial pioneer
• the only known portrait from the life of John Fletcher, one of the most successful and prolific playwrights of the Jacobean period
• the most significant portrait of John Donne, the great Elizabethan poet

How you can get involved 
As a Patron of the Portrait Fund, you will become part of a small and special number of individuals who are keenly interested in supporting the Portrait Fund and building the Gallery’s Collection for future generations.