Reading List: British Portraiture

To complement the Frick’s current exhibition Gainsborough: The Fashion of Portraiture, we invite you to discover the multifaceted world of British portraits in a list of recommended reads from the collections of the Frick Art Research Library. Explore books covering topics from animal portraits to children, fashion, royal likenesses, and beyond.

The catalogue for the Gainsborough exhibition (image below) can be found in our reading room and is available for purchase at the Museum Shop.

Come face to face with all the titles below free of charge at the library. Anyone ages 13 and up can register to visit the reading room and to request books in advance. Happy reading!

1. The Face in the Corner: Animals in Portraits from the Collections of the National Portrait Gallery

By Robin Gibson (1998)

Explore the charming animals who share the frame with famous faces from the sixteenth to the twentieth century in the National Portrait Gallery, London. Cats, dogs, horses, and other creatures in paintings and photographs deepen the stories behind their human companions. (And in the galleries, check out Pomeranian and Puppy, featured in our Gainsborough exhibition.)

2. The Face of Britain: A History of the Nation Through Its Portraits

By Simon Schama (2016)

Journey through the centuries using portraits—paintings, photographs, lithographs, etchings, and sketches—from the National Portrait Gallery, London, as a guide to the history of Great Britain. The works of art featured in this captivating book are organized in themes ranging from power and love to fame and the self, serving as windows into the lives, struggles, triumphs, and identities that have shaped a complex nation.

3. Face to Face: British Self-Portraits in the Twentieth Century

By Philip Vann (2004)

Encounter British artists of the twentieth century through self-portraits found in the Ruth Borchard Collection. In the array of images and stories within this book’s pages are revealed moments of utmost confidence, abject doubt, and ongoing reinvention. Each image becomes a personal narrative, showing how painters, sculptors, and photographers explored identity in a rapidly changing era.

4. The Changing Face of Childhood: British Children’s Portraits and Their Influence in Europe

Edited by Mirjam Neumeister (2007)

Discover how British portraits of children from the 1600s–1800s shaped and were influenced by artistic traditions across Europe. This catalogue was published in conjunction with an exhibition at the Städel Museum, Frankfurt, and Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, inspired by Thomas Lawrence’s Portrait of the Children of Lord George Cavendish (below). Examining portraits both tender and poignant, the book reveals shifting ideas about family, education, and identity.

5. Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits

Edited by Tarnya Cooper (2018)

Explore the British monarchy from the fifteenth-century Tudors through the twentieth- and twenty-first-century Windsors in this catalogue for the National Portrait Gallery’s international touring exhibition Tudors to Windsors. The volume illuminates how royal portraits reflect power, personality, and cultural identity and is enriched by illustrations of wedding, fashion, satire, and wartime portraits. Examples of royal portraits in pop culture are also included, as well as royal family trees and timelines. For further reading, the NPG’s follow-up publication The Royals: Tudors to Windsors (2024) covers the monarchy and its artistic representations through more recent years.

6. A Portrait of Fashion: Six Centuries of Dress at the National Portrait Gallery

By Aileen Ribeiro (2015)

Get to know British style in all its forms, from the sixteenth century to the modern day. Much like our Gainsborough exhibition, this book delves into sitters’ lives, details of their dress and self-presentation, and the style of the portraits themselves to examine how fashion shaped and was shaped by the people who wore it.

7. Hanging the Head: Portraiture and Social Formation in Eighteenth-Century England

By Marcia R. Pointon (1993)

Study how portraiture shaped social identity in eighteenth century England. This book reveals how images of individuals functioned within a broader visual culture to help define national character and create or challenge social order through ideas of decorum, artistic convention, and commercial practice. This fascinating book includes a chapter on hair and wigs, which is the topic of the library’s Spring Book Club this month.

All photos by Joseph Coscia Jr., The Frick Collection