National Portrait Gallery, London

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• Learn more about art history, biographies, Britain, Europe, fine art, museum education, visual learners, and world history.

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“Founded in 1856, the aim of the National Portrait Gallery, London is ‘to promote through the medium of portraits the appreciation and understanding of the men and women who have made and are making British history and culture, and … to promote the appreciation and understanding of portraiture in all media’. The Gallery holds the most extensive collection of portraits in the world. The Gallery aims to bring history to life through its extensive display, exhibition, research, learning, outreach, publishing and digital programmes.”

An index of portraits, sculptures, drawings, engravings and photographs, which can be searched by artist, sitter, or portrait includes works by Holbein, Van Dyck & Reynolds, through Gainsborough, Millais & Tissot, to Cecil Beaton, David Bailey & Patrick Heron.The Research section contains a variety of digital projects including:

• Images and transcriptions of some important documents relating to portraits within the gallery’s primary collection
• 18th and 19th century caricatures and portrait prints
• Early mezzotint publishing in London
• History of the National Portrait Gallery

The E-Learning page includes an array of activities that can be used in the classroom that approach subjects from both an artistic and historical perspective. Topics include art techniques, portraiture, perspective, faces of the century, and more.