London Portrait Gallery: Must See

There are many wonderful features of the newly renovated and expanded National Portrait Gallery in London. Earlier this week I wrote about its inviting, spacious new entrance, its specialty galleries for Renaissance miniatures, daguerreotypes, and death masks and life masks, and its splendid spaces treating the Tudor, Stuart, and Hanover eras. Today I’ll look at the Victorian galleries and the 20th- and 21st-century galleries as well as the NPG’s exhibition philosophy.

Yes, the gallery’s forte is portraits of people who inspire, but nothing could be more subjective. Take two examples. Judge George Jeffreys’s portrait from 1675 is a stunner. He was to become a prominent judge allied with James II during the upheavals of the 1680s. His courtroom, I hasten to add, produced so many death sentences that it coined the phrase “bloody assizes.” He wouldn’t inspire anyone except psychopaths and owners of rope factories. Another portrait depicts Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor. I hear she inspires Meghan Markle. Wallis is her favorite duchess, excepting herself, that is.

About the Author

Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

There are many wonderful features of the newly renovated and expanded National Portrait Gallery in London. Earlier this week I wrote about its inviting, spacious new entrance, its specialty galleries for Renaissance miniatures, daguerreotypes, and death masks and life masks, and its splendid spaces treating the Tudor, Stuart, and Hanover eras. Today I’ll look at the Victorian galleries and the 20th- and 21st-century galleries as well as the NPG’s exhibition philosophy.

Yes, the gallery’s forte is portraits of people who inspire, but nothing could be more subjective. Take two examples. Judge George Jeffreys’s portrait from 1675 is a stunner. He was to become a prominent judge allied with James II during the upheavals of the 1680s. His courtroom, I hasten to add, produced so many death sentences that it coined the phrase “bloody assizes.” He wouldn’t inspire anyone except psychopaths and owners of rope factories. Another portrait depicts Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor. I hear she inspires Meghan Markle. Wallis is her favorite duchess, excepting herself, that is.