National Portrait Gallery (London) in the context of "Portraits of Shakespeare"

⭐ In the context of Portraits_of_Shakespeare, the National_Portrait_Gallery_(London) notably received a significant number of potential portraits shortly after its establishment, but what was the ultimate outcome regarding their attribution?

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⭐ Core Definition: National Portrait Gallery (London)

The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. When it opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world that was dedicated to portraits.

The gallery moved in 1896 to its current site at St Martin's Place, off Trafalgar Square, and adjoining the National Gallery. The National Portrait Gallery also has regional outposts at Beningbrough Hall in Yorkshire and Montacute House in Somerset. It is unconnected to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, with which its remit overlaps. The gallery is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

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👉 National Portrait Gallery (London) in the context of Portraits of Shakespeare

No contemporary physical description of William Shakespeare is known to exist. The two portraits of him that are the most famous (both of which may be posthumous) are the engraving that appears on the title-page of the First Folio, published in 1623, and the sculpture that adorns his memorial in Stratford upon Avon, which dates from before 1623. Experts and critics have argued that several other paintings from the period may represent him, and more than 60 portraits purporting to be of Shakespeare were offered for sale to the National Portrait Gallery within four decades of its foundation in 1856, but in none of them has Shakespeare's identity been proven.

There is no concrete evidence that Shakespeare ever commissioned a portrait. However, it is thought that portraits of him did circulate during his lifetime because of a reference to one in the anonymous play Return from Parnassus (c. 1601), in which a character says "O sweet Mr Shakespeare! I'll have his picture in my study at the court."

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National Portrait Gallery (London) in the context of Lists of tourist attractions in England

This article contains lists of tourist attractions in England.

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National Portrait Gallery (London) in the context of King's College London School of Arts & Humanities

The King's College London Faculty of Arts & Humanities is one of the nine academic Faculties of study of King's College London. It is situated on the Strand in the heart of central London, in the vicinity of many renowned cultural institutions with which the Faculty has close links, including the British Museum, Shakespeare's Globe, the National Portrait Gallery and the British Library. In the 2024 Times Higher Education World University Rankings by subject, King's Arts & Humanities ranked in the top twenty worldwide.

The Faculty of Arts & Humanities offers study at undergraduate and graduate level in a wide range of subject areas. Many of the departments and programmes offer joint undergraduate degrees, including some with the Departments of Geography and War Studies, in the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy, and with Mathematics in the Faculty of Natural & Mathematical Sciences. As a member of the Russell Group and the Golden triangle, the Faculty receives a high number of applications.

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National Portrait Gallery (London) in the context of Joseph Severn

Joseph Severn (7 December 1793 – 3 August 1879) was an English portrait and subject painter and a personal friend of the English poet John Keats. He exhibited portraits, Italian genre, literary and biblical subjects, and a selection of his paintings can today be found in some of the most important museums in London, including the National Portrait Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum and Tate Britain.

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National Portrait Gallery (London) in the context of Elliott & Fry

Elliott & Fry was a Victorian photography studio founded in 1863 by Joseph John Elliott and Clarence Edmund Fry. For a century, the firm's core business was taking and publishing photographs of the Victorian public and social, artistic, scientific and political luminaries. In the 1880s, the company operated three studios and four large storage facilities for negatives, with a printing works at Barnet.

The firm's first address was 55 & 56 Baker Street in London, premises they occupied until 1919. The studio employed a number of photographers, including Francis Henry Hart and Alfred James Philpott in the Edwardian era, Herbert Lambert and Walter Benington in the 1920s and 1930s and subsequently William Flowers. During World War II, the studio was bombed and most of the early negatives were lost; the National Portrait Gallery currently holds all of the surviving negatives. With the firm's centenary in 1963, it was taken over by Bassano & Vandyk.

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