Gallery to represent National Trust portraiture collection for commercial licensing.
The National Portrait Gallery has secured the representation of over 3,000 portraits from the National Trust collection, which are now available for commercial licensing and reproduction.
The Gallery holds the most extensive collection of portraits in the world – more than 330,000 – and is expanding the content it makes available for licensing to include significant works of portraiture from other British institutions and archives.
The addition of the National Trust collection will broaden the works available for key sitters such as Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and Tudor monarchs, while complementing the Gallery’s Collection with new artists across different periods and artistic movements.
The additions to the Gallery’s content will also develop its position as a key source of portraits for commercial licensing.
The National Trust cares for the largest art collection in the UK. Displayed in over 200 houses in England, Northern Ireland and Wales, the pictures in the collection offer a visual history of art collecting since the sixteenth century, and the majority of these works are comprised of portraits.
These range from sixteenth century panel portraits of Tudor monarchs (Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire) to twentieth century family portraits by Rex Whistler (Plas Newydd, Anglesey).
All National Trust images will also continue to be licensed through the Trust’s own image library.
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