The very first purchase ever made by the National Portrait Gallery in London was the Chandos portrait of William Shakespeare. How appropriate that the face of the world’s greatest man was the one to first be placed on the gallery’s walls! I adore the National Portrait Gallery and pop in on every visit to London (oh, I am missing London so much!) so I was thrilled to learn that during major gallery renovations, many of the portraits in the collection will be coming to Australia. Canberra’s National Portrait Gallery will soon host a superb exhibition and I have designed a special event based around a viewing of the fabulous portraits it will include.
‘Painted with Feeling: Portraits, Artists and Sitters’ will be a mini-tour from 24-27 May. Artist David Henderson will be my co-leader and he will give a talk about the challenges of painting portraits. I’ll give a talk on the various portraits that might, or might not, depict Shakespeare, a talk on Victorian writers whose pictures we will see in the exhibition, and also a talk on the many faces of Queen Elizabeth I, examining the ways artists portrayed ‘Gloriana’.
The mini-tour will include some special visits – to the Manning Clark House, to Palerang Homestead (where poet David Campbell lived), and to Tuggeranong Homestead where historian Charles Bean and his team worked on their vast history of Australia in WWI. There will be an extremely exclusive visit to Garangula Gallery, a private gallery whose building and collection are simply breath-taking. And lastly, we will be joined by two amazing authors – Sulari Gentill whose fabulous crime series set in the 1930s features, as hero, a portrait artist called Rowland Sinclair, and best-selling crime writer Chris Hammer, who will tell us how he came to write his novels and about some of the challenges an author faces.
To learn more about this special event in May, you might like to watch my youtube clip
I’d love to have you join me in late May to delve into the fascinating world of authors and their portraits. Do you love the National Portrait Gallery in London too? Tell me by leaving a comment.
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Marina Teramond
To tell the truth, I am so glad that ‘Painted with Feeling: Portraits, Artists and Sitters’ will be a mini-tour from 24-27 May because it has such an interesting concept and it should be on public display because, from my point of view, it is the best idea to become closer to art. I really like the program of the mini-tour because it is so extensive and various, without chances to leave anyone indifferent. I adore William Shakespeare because his compositions arouses the most majestic feelings in me and it is truly cool that you will see the various portraits that might, or might not, depict Shakespeare because I think that it is a really important topic that requires a great detailed discussion. I think that it will help us look at different portraits from a different angle and deep into their concepts. I have no doubts that your special event will be truly impressive and inspirational.
Susannah Fullerton
Thanks for your kind comments about my planned event. It is going to be rather special and I am so excited about seeing the potraits in the exhibition.
Roslyn Russell
Wonderful that you are going to visit Manning Clark House when you are in Canberra – and there is a new 3D virtual tour that will be launched there this week that should really bring the place to life. And having Sulari Gentil with you will be wonderful – she is a fantastic speaker. Have a wonderful time in Canberra.
Susannah Fullerton
Thanks Ros. Sebastian Clark will join us again at the Manning Clark House, and I am excited about hearing from Sulari again. She was so fabulous last time.
Margaret Clingan Wright
Hi Susannah,
Yes, I love the National Portrait Gallery in London too. I always make a bee-line for it when I’m there, and pause to greet Nurse Edith Cavell’s statue just outside.(I learnt about her in primary school, in the section of our history books called ‘Enduring Deeds’). I found her grave at Norwich Cathedral, and her little dog is stuffed and in the Imperial War Museum, London.
Portraits, houses/places and graves are among my essential destinations when I travel.
I can’t wait to see the exhibition here in Canberra.
Cheers,
Margaret Wright.
Susannah Fullerton
Yes, I also admire Edith Cavell and pause by her statue. There’s also a fabulous statue of her in Norwich, a city I really must revisit soon. I didn’t know that about her dog though, so thanks for letting me know!