NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY UNVEILS NEW OPPORTUNITIES, AS MAJOR MAKEOVER NEARS COMPLETION

The National Portrait Gallery is seeking sponsors for a number of exhibitions later this year. Founded in 1856, the gallery was set up to collect the likenesses of famous British men and women - and it now boasts the most comprehensive collection of its kind in the world. But 2003 is a big year for the gallery, its comprehensive refurbishment to be completed in May with the re-opening of the top-floor Regency Galleries, redesigned by Piers Gough of CZWG. Sponsorship opportunities available currently include: A Gardener's Labyrinth, photographs by Tessa Traeger (June - October, 2003) Beautiful portrait photographs of Britain's leading gardeners and horticulturalists. Below Stairs (October 2003 - January 2004) Paintings and photographs of servants and household staff. Cecil Beaton: Portraits (February - May 2004) A major retrospective of Cecil Beaton's work. Sponsors enjoy PR and marketing benefits, corporate entertaining, promotional opportunities, enhanced branding and employee benefits. The £1.2 million refurbishment project has been made possible by a grant of £367,500 from the Heritage Lottery Fund and additional funding from a number of private donors. It marks the completion of a ten-year programme of refurbishment and re-display which has included the addition of the critically-acclaimed Ondaatje Wing and the renovation of every gallery space in the building. The four Regency Galleries cover a fascinating period of British history from the beginning of the French Revolution to the passing of the Great Reform Act in 1832 - a period of innovation, invention and progress in politics, science, literature, commerce, and industry. Iconic figures of the period include the Duke of Wellington, Admiral Nelson, Napoleon Bonaparte, Jane Austen, William Wordsworth, Lord Byron and Edward Jenner, as well as the monarchs of the period - the troubled King George III, and his successors George IV and William IV. The galleries were last refurbished in 1986 and were much in need of renovation to improve display and interpretation as well as environmental conditions. Gough's design introduces new windows, restores the exceptionally fine oak floors, previously hidden under carpet, and fully refurbishes the Grade I listed interior. The roof-lights have been replaced and state-of-the-art environmental controls installed. Innovative methods of exhibition will be used, revitalising the display of sculpture in this part of the collection and sensitively displaying miniatures and works on paper in specially designed cases. Over 130 works of art will be on show, including paintings, sculptures, miniatures, drawings and pastels. Around twenty-five works will be put before the public gaze for the first time and a rotating display of light-sensitive material will ensure that more works from the collection are henceforth on view. The rooms will be hung thematically according to historical groupings and sitters will be brought to life by providing a greater sense of their historical context, spheres of influence and social networks. Room 17 presents Royalty and Scandal, including Thomas Lawrence's portrait of George, Prince Regent, rooms 18 and 19 Art, Thought and Invention, showing portraits of William Blake, John Keats, Sir Walter Scott and JMW Turner, amongst others. The largest gallery, Room 20, presents The Road to Reform, dominated by Sir George Hayter's huge Reformed House of Commons and Benjamin Haydon's monumental The Anti-Slavery Society Convention which is on display for the first time since 1985. Unprecedented access to this area of the collection will be available through discreet interactive computer terminals in the galleries, following the success of the Woodward Portrait Explorer. As well as numerous search options under a broad range of Regency subjects, there will be an illustrated Regency timeline and new features providing access to objects which could not be permanently displayed, eg the complete works of the caricaturist James Gilray, which are bound as nine volumes.   Contact: Naomi Conway, Senior Development Manager. Tel.: 020 7312 2487. Other contact details in our Arts: Art section.   E&OE

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