Pause for a second and take in the grand, Portland stone façade before you: you’re standing at the heart of British history, outside the National Portrait Gallery. Now, close your eyes for a moment-or at least squint artfully, as if you’re trying to appear in a Victorian painting-and imagine the year is 1896. London’s carriages jostle outside, the air carries the notes of distant street musicians, and this very spot is about to become the first national public gallery in the world dedicated exclusively to portraits.
But let’s rewind to the start. The dream of a gallery filled with portraits of Britain’s greatest figures took three tries in Parliament before being approved. Lord Stanhope, the Earl with a vision (who might’ve been as persistent as someone queueing for tickets to a blockbuster show), finally succeeded in getting Parliament and Queen Victoria to agree in 1856. The original collection? Just 57 items! Believe it or not, it started out in a house in Westminster, and for years, the gallery bounced around London like a lost tourist-first on Great George Street, then Exhibition Road, then Bethnal Green Museum with its leaky roof (if you think London’s weather is wet now, try storing priceless art in a soggy attic!).
Fast-forward to 1896: thanks to a generous philanthropist named William Henry Alexander, the National Portrait Gallery landed here next to Trafalgar Square, and Ewan Christian was chosen as the architect. Poor Ewan didn’t even get to see his creation open, but he’d designed a building worthy of storing a nation’s collective memory in paintings, sculptures, prints, and some very grand moustaches.
Alright, time for some people-watching: over the main entrance are stone busts of Stanhope and his partners-in-portrait-perseverance, Thomas Macaulay and Thomas Carlyle, gazing sternly as if they’re daring you to say, “It’s just a selfie museum”-which, to be fair, it kind of is, but with less filters and more royalty.
Walk around to the side, and notice the faces carved in stone: from Hans Holbein to William Hogarth. The gallery is a who’s-who in chiselled format. Inside, the rules for whose face could hang on the walls were clear: only the sitter’s historical importance counted, not the artist’s fame. That’s why you’ll see legendary faces, from Shakespeare-well, we think it’s him in the Chandos portrait, though no one’s entirely sure-to a wonderfully eccentric sculpture of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert dressed as if they’ve just left a medieval cosplay convention. And don’t miss the group portrait from the Somerset House Conference of 1604-imagine the Tudor version of a tense Zoom meeting but with even more ruffles and lace.
Some portraits are wonders of artistic skill, others are historical oddities-like the stretched, warped image of Edward VI that demands you view it from just the right angle lest the young king scowl at your lack of imagination. And here’s a modern twist: since 1969, even living legends have earned their place on these walls. Talk about immortality-the Instagram generation can only dream!
The gallery’s journey hasn’t always been peaceful. During WWII, masterpieces were whisked away to the countryside for safety-imagine priceless paintings hid away in a grand country estate, Mentmore Towers, rubbing shoulders with royal treasures and the occasional curious mouse.
It’s not all sepia-toned history: the contemporary Ondaatje Wing opened in 2000, complete with a two-story escalator soaring up to Tudor times. Sometimes, peaceful admiration takes a wild turn-like the time environmental protesters staged a performance-art protest about oil company sponsorship, leaving the crowd both confused and oddly impressed at the clean-up skills on display.
Recently, the Gallery embarked on an incredible transformation. From 2020 to 2023, it closed its doors for the “Inspiring People” project-£41 million, a new entrance, new galleries, and for the first time, 4-metre bronze doors adorned with 45 anonymous women’s faces, sketched by Tracey Emin. If doors could talk, imagine the stories they’d whisper as you walk in-love, intrigue, a sprinkle of royal scandal, and maybe a dash of sibling rivalry.
And in 2023, it was Catherine, Princess of Wales, who swung open the doors for the grand re-opening. She met Sir Paul McCartney, viewed a dazzling, newly acquired portrait by Joshua Reynolds, and invited in the next era of British portraiture. Add to that a high-stakes copyright standoff with Wikipedia over digital images (because even art galleries have online drama!), and you’ve got a story as vivid as the gallery’s most striking portrait.
So next time you see a stately face staring out from a golden frame, remember-beneath every canvas is a tale of ambition, artistry, and perhaps just a hint of British eccentricity.
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