Portraits Archive

Charles IV of France, meeting his sister Isabella of France at the gates of Paris in 1325.

portraits

Queen Isabella, the ‘she-wolf of France’

Queen Isabella, daughter of the king of France and wife and mother to kings of England, was an intelligent and shrewd political operator in an era of conquest and civil war.

Caroline Burt July 10, 2024

Fulvia pierces the tongue of Cicero's severed head

portraits

Fulvia, blazing star of the late Roman Republic

A daring and brilliant figure, Fulvia played an active role in elite politics in the dying days of the Roman Republic.

Daisy Dunn June 28, 2024

Etching of Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski.

portraits

Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, the uncrowned King of Poland

Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, a major figure in 19th Century European politics, kept the Polish Question alive.

Adam Zamoyski June 12, 2024

Geometric shaped interior in the Jameh Mosque in Isfahan.

portraits

Mullā Ṣadrā, Islam’s greatest modern philosopher

Despite being widely considered the greatest philosopher in modern Islamic thought, the Persian ‘theosopher’ Mullā Ṣadrā (1571-1635), who flourished under the Safavid dynasty, rema..

Josh Mcloughlin May 31, 2024

portraits

Keith Murdoch, the patriarch

Decades before Rupert Murdoch ruled his news empire, his father, Keith Murdoch, was recognised and feared as a media and political powerbroker.

Michael Crick May 15, 2024

Wenceslas Hollar's map of England with scenes from the beginning of the Civil War.

portraits

Henry Stubbe, early modern champion of ‘Mahometan Christianity’

Henry Stubbe, one of the leading classical scholars of the 17th century, associate of Thomas Hobbes and a radical republican, saw Islam as the ultimate Puritan religion.

Paul Lay April 29, 2024

portraits

Isabella Whitney, England’s first female professional writer

Isabella Whitney is remarkable as a pioneer woman writer, and her poems are finally beginning to gain traction.

Emma Smith April 15, 2024

portraits

Sigmar Hillelson — the German Jewish pioneer behind the BBC’s Arabic broadcasts

Sigmar Hillelson, the German Jewish Orientalist who led the BBC’s Near Eastern Service between 1940 and 1945, played a crucial role in establishing Arabic broadcasting as a source ..

Alex White February 27, 2024

Portrait of Carlo Porta - an Italian poet who wrote in Milanese dialect.

portraits

Carlo Porta, poet who defended Milan’s dispossessed

The poet Carlo Porta gave the Milanese voice in their native tongue, fiercely rejecting the popular notion that good writing could only be done in Italian.

Andrea Valentino February 15, 2024