Anthony Morris, Drinks with Joyce and Jim Stedman

New Portrait Award –

The RP Award: The Royal Society of Portrait Painters is delighted to announce a new £2,000 prize for portraiture, The RP Award. All works shown in the Annual Exhibition will be eligible. The award will be made to the artist whose work best represents the year’s chosen theme – which for the inaugural year, 2018, is ‘Friends’.…

Royal Society of Portrait Painters 2018 Call for Entries

2018 Call for Entries closing noon 19th January

WIN £20,000 in Prizes and awards including our new RP Award EXHIBIT with our Central London exhibition at the prestigious  Mall Galleries SW1 BE SEEN The exhibition is put online so  work can be seen all over the world RECEIVE COMMISSIONS – (not obligatory) Exhibiting artists are invited to display additional material Commissions Consultant service run throughout the…

Paul Brason, Arthur and Lottie a portrait of two children

Top portrait painters 2017

We logged the number of enquiries that each artist got during our 2017 exhibtion. These are the artists that were most enquired after. Our commissions consultants were present in the gallery and many of the artists received enquiries about portrait commissions.   Over 200 portraits were displayed by nearly 150 different artists each of whom had…

Jason Sullivan, Professor Judith Pallot for Christ Church College Oxford first female portrait to hang in the College Hall

First female portrait

Jason Sullivan’s portrait of Professor Judith Pallot is the first portrait of a female fellow to hang in the Great Hall of Christ Church College, Oxford. It will hang alongside portraits of Henry VIII, Cardinal Wolsey, John Locke and William Gladstone. The portrait is currently hanging in Christ Church’s Picture Gallery but will be moved…

Breech! by Ben Sullivan winner of the 2017 BP Portrait Award

Benjamin Sullivan wins BP Portrait Award 2017

In creating ‘Breech!’ Benjamin wanted to celebrate the love that had come into their lives and reflect on the worrisome time that the couple faced during Edith’s birth. Breech! depicts the artist’s wife Virginia breastfeeding their 8 month old daughter Edith, at a time when Sullivan says ‘a sense of calm descended after the usual period disarrangement…

Emma Hopkins, Lucy 100x70 oil on cotton

Rising Stars, two very different new Members

David Caldwell and Emma Hopkins have been elected Membership Artists who represent very different approaches to portraiture.  These new Members have been through the Society’s very rigorous selection process to achieve full Membership.   David Caldwell David Caldwell was born in Helensburgh in the West of Scotland in 1977. He studied at the Glasgow School of…

Richard Foster, Self Portrait

Our New President Richard Foster

Richard Foster is elected to the post of President of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters “It is a real privilege to stand in the footsteps of great portrait painters such as Sir William Open, Augustus John and John Ward,” believes Richard. “As President, I will strive to ensure that we encourage and attract truly…

Part of Richard Foster's installation for East Lexham Church Norfolk

Art for church

    Richard Foster’s installation of art for the church in East Lexham, Norfolk, will stir further interest when an exhibition of preliminary works opens. Richard’s traditional religious works use contemporary portraits in their biblical scenes.  Maybe, if you see this exhibition, you will be in the company of angels!   Exhibition opens 10:00am to 4:00pm…

Portrait prize winner Shawn Mcgovern, James winner of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters' Ondaatje Portrait Award

2017 Portrait Prize Winners

2017 major portrait prize winners announced. Prizes are awarded for works exhibited with the Royal Society of Portrait Painters.  This year’s Annual Exhibition runs at Mall Galleries until 19 May 2017 and includes over 200 portraits by more than 100 artists.   The Ondaatje Prize for Portraiture Shawn McGovern, James The Ondaatje Prize is the…