Portraits Archive

Rosaleen Norton, the Witch of Kings Cross. Credit: Journeyman Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

portraits

Rosaleen Norton — joyful contrarian and occultist turned pioneer for free speech

The ‘Witch of Kings Cross’ Rosaleen Norton’s provocative art and unconventional life brought her notoriety in mid-twentieth century Australian society, but paved the way for a rich..

Christiana Spens January 21, 2022

portraits

Chiang Ching-kuo — dictator or democrat?

To Chiang’s backers, he was a well-intentioned autocrat who put in place the foundations for Taiwan’s democratic transition; to his critics he was a sometimes brutal dictator who a..

Michael Reilly January 12, 2022

The Coronation of the Virgin by Neri di Bicci, c. 1470. Lucrezia Vizzana was consecrated in 1613 and likely composed and performed her Amo Christum in cuius thalamum introibo for the occasion.

portraits

Lucrezia Orsina Vizzana — singular and strikingly modern composer

Born in the late sixteenth-century and cloistered from earliest childhood, Lucrezia Orsina Vizzana became Bologna’s only nun to publish her music, despite unrelenting clerical oppo..

Craig A. Monson December 14, 2021

Portrait of German Chancellor Gustav Stresemann (1878-1929). Credit: Public Domain / Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

portraits

Gustav Stresemann — The man who almost saved the world

Stresemann guided the Weimar Republic through its post-war crisis with agility and tenacity. The question of whether he might have been able to do the same following the Wall Stree..

Katja Hoyer December 3, 2021

Engraving of a Portrait of James Edward Oglethorpe (22 December 1696 – 30 June 1785)

portraits

General James Oglethorpe — a man of uncommon vivacity

He founded the city of Savannah and the state of Georgia, but this was just a short interlude in a life of conviction and adventure; shame and redemption.

Suzanne Raine November 23, 2021

Valeriy Lobanovskyi next to the pitch during the 1986 European Cup final between Athletico Madrid and Dynamo Kyiv in Lyon, 1986. Credit: Paul Popper via Getty Images

portraits

Valeriy Lobanovskyi: The greatest football coach you’ve never heard of

A mathematician, a footballer, and very nearly a plumber, Valeriy Lobanovskyi was a leading light of the Soviet era and combined his intellectual interests with the love of the gam..

Josh Mcloughlin November 9, 2021

Three authors pictured at the Arts Theatre London, L-R: C,E,Webber, Enid Bagnold and John Whiting.

portraits

Enid Bagnold — trailblazing novelist whose greatest novel launched Elizabeth Taylor’s career

The largely forgotten novelist Enid Bagnold was an acerbic and yet tender author. National Velvet was years ahead of its time.

Anne Sebba October 22, 2021

A 17th century tapestry picturing the interrogation of Epicharis, a Roman freed woman who had a notable role in the Pisonian Conspiracy against Nero.

portraits

Epicharis — defiance unbounded

Epicharis – a former slave and a foreigner – participated in the doomed Pisonian conspiracy against the Emperor Nero. In Tacitus' depiction of her and in her rich after-life in wes..

Siobhan Chomse September 29, 2021

Wildlife photographer Carl Ethan Akeley photographed in 1926. Credit: Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery / Public Domain

portraits

Carl Akeley – the contradictory life of a taxidermist and hunter turned wildlife photographer

Inventor, sculptor, and taxidermist by trade, Carl Akeley was an early pioneer of wildlife photography. His life's lessons still echo in the effort to conserve wildlife.

Maria Golia September 16, 2021