What it does
The National Portrait Gallery provides portrait paintings, photographs, prints and drawings through its collection search. Artist and Sitter indexes separate the maker from the person portrayed, with period and themed routes for broader research.
Find a portrait, choose Use this image and select Commercial, Non-Commercial or Creative Commons. The free Creative Commons option supplies a low-resolution image for eligible noncommercial online uses. Other free noncommercial licences cover qualifying research, teaching and publications below a combined print/electronic run of 1,000, with images used inside rather than on the cover.
That file-order route requires registration, a licensee and a billing address even when no payment is due. Add further images to the basket and finish the order to download both files and licences. Commercial options charge a fee and accept card payment; requests outside the listed uses go to the image team.
Strengths
- Artist and Sitter indexes support different ways of identifying a portrait.
- Qualifying noncommercial orders include downloadable image files and licences.
Watch out for
- Licence availability and eligible uses vary by portrait.
Best for
- Publishers and researchers arranging British portrait reproductions
Sources
- Explore our Collection | National Portrait Gallery (Oct 27, 2026)
- Reproducing images from our Collection | National Portrait Gallery (Oct 27, 2026)