National Portrait Gallery www.npg.org.uk
St Martin's Place London WC2H 0HE
I spent yesterday afternoon wandering around the NPG. As there are 16,000 portraits in its archive there is always something new to see and not just the newly commissioned.
I saw three exhibitions:
Thomas Lawrence Portraits (until 23/01/11) ****
Camille Silvy (now closed) ***
and
An Englishman in NY Photographs of Jason Bell (until 17/04/11) **
The Lawrence is quite outstanding and though again you'll need a magnifying glass to find out who curated it the two responsible were Peter Funnell and Lucy Peltz.
Lawrence had a charmed life; his "angel investor" was the Prince Regent, later George IV and he flitted from Paris to Rome and London painting a Pope, political and military leaders and their wives, friends and mistresses. He was influenced by Gainsborough and some academics say he was the successor to Reynolds. He certainly knew how to show up the rich and the powerful.
This is a sumptuous exhibition and one not to miss.