Research programmes

The Gallery’s research programmes support its mission to promote an understanding of the men and women who have made and are making British history and culture and to promote the appreciation of portraiture in all media. As such its major research areas are history, biography and the history of art and photography from the sixteenth century to the present day. This interdisciplinary approach is conducted both through research on the Gallery’s own collections and through fostering research into the broader field of portraiture.

Research at the Gallery

Introduction to research programmes

Introduction to research programmes

Discover more about the Gallery's main areas of research
Research partnerships

Research partnerships

The Gallery works with individuals and organisations, both as collaborators on research programmes and as funding partners

Research projects

Making art in Tudor Britain

Making art in Tudor Britain

A major research project on early painting practice and the production of portraits in the Tudor and Jacobean periods
The art of the picture frame

The art of the picture frame

An update on the exhibition The Art of the Picture Frame, held at the Gallery in 1996–97 and giving information on current research
Early history of mezzotint

Early history of mezzotint

The prints of Alexander Browne and Richard Tompson, two of the first and most important publishers of high quality mezzotints in Britain
Later Victorian Portraits Catalogue

Later Victorian Portraits Catalogue

Research work on detailed catalogues of Later Victorian Portraits, currently focussed on the Art and Architecture tranche.
British artists’ suppliers, 1650–1950

British artists’ suppliers, 1650–1950

British artists’ suppliers focuses on the supply of painting materials to British artists, especially portrait painters, up until 1950
British picture restorers, 1600–1950

British picture restorers, 1600–1950

A directory including a selection of more than 100 prominent and interesting picture, sculpture and paper restorers in Britain

Danish-British portraiture

HM Queen Margrethe II’s distinguished postdoctoral fellowships on the subject of Danish-British portraiture are the result of a partnership between the Gallery and the National Museum of History in Frederiksborg, with the support of the Carlsberg Foundation. The fellowships began in April 2016 and ran for two years, with one of the fellows being based at the Gallery.

Anne of Denmark 
by John De Critz the Elder
oil on canvas, circa 1605-1610
NPG 6918

Anne of Denmark, by John De Critz the Elder, circa 1606-1608, NPG 6918, © National Portrait Gallery, London Anne of Denmark, by John De Critz the Elder, circa 1606-1608