National Portrait Gallery

National Portrait Gallery Review

The National Portrait Gallery was founded in 1856 with a single aim: to gather together portraits of famous British men and women. Over 150 years and 160,000 portraits later, this museum is an essential stop for all history and literature buffs. The spacious, bright galleries make it a pleasant place to visit, and you can choose to take in a little or a lot. Pop into Portrait Explorer in the IT Gallery for computer-aided exploration. At the summit, the Portrait Restaurant (open an hour after gallery closing times on Thursday and Friday) will delight skyline aficionados. Here you'll see one of the best landscapes for real: a panoramic view of Nelson's Column and the backdrop along Whitehall to the Houses of Parliament.

Galleries are arranged chronologically from Tudor times on the second floor forward to contemporary Britain. In the Tudor Gallery—a modern update on a Tudor long hall—is a Holbein cartoon of Henry VIII. Joshua Reynolds's self-portrait hangs in the refurbished 17th-century rooms; portraits of notables, including Shakespeare, the Brontë sisters, Jane Austen, and the Queen are always on display. Other faces are more obscure and will be just as unknown to you if you're English, because the portraits outlasted their sitters' fame—not so surprising when the portraitists are such greats as Reynolds, Gainsborough, Lawrence, Romney, and Hockney. Look for the four Andy Warhol Queen Elizabeth II silkscreens from 1985 and Maggi Hambling's surreal self-portrait. Contemporary portraits range from the iconic (Julian with T-shirt—an LCD screen on a continuous loop—by Julian Opie) to the creepy (Marc Quinn's Self, a realization of the artist's head in frozen blood) and the eccentric (Tim Noble's ghoulish Head of Isabella Blow). Temporary exhibitions can be explored in the Wolfson and Porter galleries.