Scottish National Portrait GalleryImage 1 of 8 | © National Galleries of Scotland

The Great Hall with its newly restored frieze depicting the history of ScotlandImage 2 of 8

Sir Anthony van Dyck, Princess Elizabeth (1635-1650) and Princess Anne (1637-1640), 1637Image 3 of 8 | Scottish National Portrait Gallery

New displays in the Scottish National Portrait GalleryImage 4 of 8

Major James Fraser of Castle Leathers, Hanoverian supporter, c 1720Image 5 of 8 | Copyright National Galleries of Scotland, photograph by A Reeve

Percy Wyndham Lewis, (Lady) Naomi Mitchison, 1938Image 6 of 8 | Scottish National Portrait Gallery

Sir Henry Raeburn, Sir Walter Scott, 1822Image 7 of 8 | Scottish National Portrait Gallery

Touchscreen at the Scottish National Portrait GalleryImage 8 of 8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overview

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery has opened its doors again after a three-year £17.6 million refurbishment. The architects have stripped away old partitions, unblocked boarded-up windows and created 60% more display space. Everything has been buffed, polished and restored to sparkling condition, including the gilded frieze of Scotland’s history that runs round the Neo-Gothic entrance hall.

While the building was being transformed the curators thought long and hard about how to adapt the Victorian idea of a portrait gallery of worthies to the 21st century. The emphasis is now on how the portraits tell the story of the people of Scotland, providing windows into their lives and the way they have shaped the nation’s history and culture.

Rotating displays in the 17 galleries follow a broadly chronological narrative, beginning with the Reformation and Mary Queen of Scots, and continuing through to the present day, with a changing photographic display of ‘Hot Scots’ in the public eye. The idea of portraiture is interpreted very broadly. Alongside canvases by the great masters of Scottish portrait painting – Ramsay and Raeburn – and of illustrious Scots – Walter Scott, Robert Burns, Bonnie Prince Charlie – there are are some surprises. You’ll find contemporary landscapes and videos, historic photographs of unidentified sitters, sporty Scots playing golf and croquet, prints of Glasgow’s slums, miniatures, life and death masks, and a plaster cast of the head of Dolly the cloned sheep.

Don’t miss

A glorious display of tartan – a parade of five portraits of men in plaids and kilts, including Major James Fraser in colourfully clashing tartan trews, coat and mantle.

A touching 1637 oil sketch of two royal princesses – Elizabeth and Anne – which Van Dyck made for a group portrait of five children of Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria. It becomes all the more poignant when you realise that the little girls did not survive infancy. The picture was ArtFunded in 1996.

Visitor information

The imposing red sandstone building sits on Queen Street, a ten-minute stroll from the National Gallery of Scotland. There’s a well-stocked shop and a café, and a new glass lift linking the three floors. Six touchscreens in the gallery provide information on the collection and a chance to have some fun as you assemble different elements into your own composite portrait.

Get a free limited edition poster printed to celebrate the re-opening of the Gallery when you present your National Art Pass in the shop until 30 June. 

Scottish National Portrait Gallery nominated for Art Fund Prize 2012.