Imagined Lives: Portraits of Unknown People

This display looks in detail at fourteen portraits of people whose identities are uncertain. Dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, these portraits were once thought to depict famous sitters including Queen Elizabeth I, the young pretender to the throne Lady Arabella Stuart, and the poet and courtier Sir Thomas Overbury. These identities, however, have long since been disputed. New research, undertaken in part by MA students from the University of Bristol, is presented alongside the portraits. The likelihood of previously given identities is assessed and, in some cases, new identities are suggested.

Inspired by these mystery portraits, internationally renowned authors John Banville, Tracy Chevalier, Julian Fellowes, Alexander McCall Smith, Terry Pratchett, Sarah Singleton, Joanna Trollope and Minette Walters have imagined what the lives of these sitters might have been like. Their fictional biographies and character sketches accompany the exhibition and were published together in a fully illustrated paperback.

Read extracts from the Imagined Lives publication

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Imagined Lives podcast

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Imagined Lives story competition

Inspired by the Imagined Lives display, the Gallery ran a competition to encourage people to write their own stories to accompany the portraits. A selection of the stories were chosen and included here on the website and in the Imagined Lives display.

© National Portrait Gallery, London