The National Portrait Gallery holds the most extensive and prestigious collection of portraits in the world, with over 350,000 works. From the much-loved Tudor collection to contemporary photography, the collection focuses on the men and women who have made - and are making - Britain what is it today, from kings, queens, artists and authors, to musicians, actors, scientists and politicians.

The Picture Library provides access to around 160,000 portraits available to license and download directly from our website and we continue to add new images regularly.

We also represent and license significant works from other institutions and archives, including the National Trust’s portraiture collection and the Jane Bown archive.

The National Portrait Gallery is a charity and we rely now, more than ever, on the support of the public to self-generate over 70% of the funds needed to sustain our activities. Your purchase will help us to continue our work, which includes conservation and care of the national collection, looking after our historic building, providing free access for all to our portraits and our work with children and young people, including those with disabilities and special educational needs.

Find out about aspects of our vast collection of portraiture, new content and how we help our clients get the best images for their projects.

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Our experienced Picture Library team are happy to assist in finding the right images for your project, you can reach us at rightsandimages@npg.org.uk