| National Portrait Gallery tips and photos posted by real travelers and London locals.
St Martins Place, WC2
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 Resting after some
portrait viewing in the
restaur by sue_stone,
2 more photos
One of the great things about the Gallery is that admission is free, except to some of the special exhibitions, when a small cost applies.
We have been there a few times now, mainly to see particular exhibitions, which normally change every few months. We are mainly into photography, and went recently to check out an exhibition called "The World's Most Photographed", which focused on series of photos taken of ten different famous people - including James Dean, Adolf Hitler, Audrey Hepburn & John F Kennedy. We have also seen the "BP Portrait Award" finalists work the past couple of years - some pretty amazing stuff there.
On our last visit we also discovered a hidden gem on the top floor of the Gallery - the Portrait Restaurant, which has some fabulous views, and I would highly recommend it just for that! We had some afternoon tea here, which was quite nice, but the service was shocking....lucky the view made up for it. Leave a Comment Phone: 020 7306 0055Directions: Nearest Tube: Leicester Square or Charing CrossWebsite: http://www.npg.org.uk
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 NPG by Mariajoy
The NPG is open daily from 10am-6pm and Thursdays and Fridays until 9pm and entry is free. You will need to pay for special exhibitions though but there are concessions for full time students, disabled visitors and senior citizens. There is also a small cafe and gift shop (isn't there always?) Leave a Comment
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 National Portrait Gallery by LoriPoriLeave a Comment
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 National Portrait Gallery by HORSCHECKLeave a Comment Directions: The National Portrait Gallery is situated in the City of Westminster just adjacent to the National Gallery. Tube: Leicester Square, Charing CrossWebsite: http://www.npg.org.uk/
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 National portrait Gallery by irisbe
So unfortunately I can not say much about impressions I have but I suggest you visit the website provided.
A little bit more information I can give about the entrance:
If you look at the picture then you will notice three busts about the door.
At right you see Thomas Babington Macaulay(1800-1859), trustee of the gallery.
In the middle you see Philip Henry Stanhope (1805-1875), his efforts resulted in the foundation of the gallery in 1856. It took him several attempts to ?sell? his idea for this gallery. It was thanks to Queen Victoria?s approval that the idea became reality.
At the left you see Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), trustee of the gallery
The purpose of the gallery was because of the sake of art but of that of history.
Stanhope had convinced the superiors because he pleaded to have a gallery with portraits of nobles, statesman, scientists, of people of importance, of warriors, etc. and all this in the context of British history.
Underneath the bas-relief of the busts, just above the door, you notice the bas-relief with the Coat of arms and The Shield: the English Lion and the Scottish chained unicorn. Leave a Comment
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 by Gypsystravels
It had previously only displayed portraits of mainly those individuals already deceased but that changed in 1969 and now you can see portraits of individuals who are still alive as well.
A great way to catch up on your history listen! Leave a Comment
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The national portrait gallery is tucked on the side of the National Galery in Trafalgar Square, and is wonderful in itself, however it harbours a wonderful source of free art. Get yourself to the IT gallery, where you'll find a bank of large touch-screen monitors (all attached to a hidden bank of power macs) which you can use to take a virtual tour of the gallery before you even begin looking at any pictures "in the flesh". The monitors are well spaced out, and the leather chairs are exceptionally comfy, so it's easy to spend an hour hear before you realise it - ideal if you've been traipsing round the west end, fighting through the hordes of tourists and Londoners alike on Oxford Street. The database is logically structured so that you can follow threads such as famous scientists, sportsmen, politicians, kings and queens etc. You can then decide which portraits you most want to see, and print out a personalised gallery plan. Of course a real advantage of the system is that you can view the entire collection, archives and all, rather than simply those on the walls. But the thing I like most, is that for any print which the gallery owns the copyright, you can get a FREE A4 b&w printout, or pay for larger/and or colour prints. A definite must for the artistically inclined. I tend to get myself half a dozen freebies, then pay for one printout to help with the gallery coffers, how ypu approach it is your choice. Leave a Comment
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 Down the street to the
National Gallery&St.Martins by grandmaR, 4 more photos
Since we came to the National Portrait Gallery first, we went in and went through the "Beatrix Potter to Harry Potter:Portraits of Children's Writers" exhibit which was free (and was quite interesting and worthwhile). This consisted of portraits (photographic or sculpture or graphics) of writers of children's books (In addition to Beatrix Potter and J. K. Rowling, this included Frances Hodgson Burnett, A.A. Milne, Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl, Raymond Brigg, Travers etc.), and they had some of the books there for kids to read. I looked at some of them because I had never heard of some of the people featured.
It included such people as C.S. Lewis whose photo looked like a picture of a tree with enormous exposed roots until you looked more closely and saw him sitting amongst the roots. The first book of his that I read was "Screwtape Letters" when I was 12. It made a great impression on me.
This exhibit is no longer available of course. I tried to find the photo of C.S. Lewis that made such a great impression on me, and could not.
We also did walk through the portraits of the Kings and Queens of England. The portraits are arranged in timeline order, and the timeline ended (with contemporary portraits) next to the special exhibit gallery. But the National Portrait Gallery really wasn't on my list of things to do so we didn't spend much time on it, but continued next door to the National Gallery. Leave a Comment
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 by mariocibelliLeave a Comment
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 National Portrait Gallery by toonsarah
The Gallery was founded in 1856 to collect portraits of famous British men and women. Today it houses around 120,000 portraits of the most eminent persons in British history from Tudor times to the present day. As I tend to prefer more modern art I like especially the recent portraits, many of them of current “celebrities” – everyone from the Royal family to sports stars and politicians.
The gallery is open daily 10.00 -18.00, and until 21:00 on Thursdays and Fridays. General admission is free, although a charge is made for major exhibitions. And even if you’re not interested in art you might consider visiting to have lunch or afternoon tea in the top-floor restaurant with its fantastic views of Nelson in Trafalgar Square and across Whitehall to the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and the London Eye – one of London’s best kept secrets. The menu is modern British in style and isn’t cheap (don’t expect an old fashioned museum cafeteria) but I’ve heard the food is as good as the view although I’m yet to sample it myself. Oh, and do reserve a table if you want to eat here: 020 7312 2490. Phone: 020 7306 0055Directions: Just north of Trafalgar Square – nearest tube stations are Leicester Square (Piccadilly & Northern lines) and Charing Cross (Bakerloo & Northern lines)Website: http://www.npg.org.uk
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