non-Australia Portraits

Antique Portrait Prints of British, European and International Figures

This category brings together original antique portrait prints depicting non-Australian historical figures — the monarchs, statesmen, military commanders, clergy, scientists, philosophers, artists and literary figures of Britain, Europe and the wider world whose faces were recorded in engraved portrait prints from the 16th through to the 19th century. These works form part of the great tradition of portrait engraving that served as the primary means of visual biographical documentation before the age of photography.

British portraits form a substantial part of this collection, reflecting the prolific tradition of portrait print production in Britain across the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. The monarchs of the Tudor, Stuart and Hanoverian dynasties, the statesmen and parliamentarians of successive political eras, the naval and military commanders who defined British power in the age of empire, and the scientists, philosophers and literary figures who shaped British intellectual life are all represented in engraved portraits produced by the leading printmakers of their day.

European portraits encompass the royal houses, political leaders, military commanders and cultural figures of France, the German states, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and beyond. The popes and cardinals of the Catholic church, the emperors and princes of the Holy Roman Empire, the generals of the Thirty Years War and the Napoleonic era, and the philosophers and artists of the European Enlightenment appear in portrait prints produced across four centuries of European print-making.

International portraits — figures from beyond Europe whose prominence in the political, military or cultural life of their time attracted the attention of European printmakers — complete the geographic scope of the collection. These prints document the expanding European awareness of the wider world and the increasing visibility of non-European figures in the illustrated publications of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Antique portrait prints of non-Australian figures are collected for their historical associations, their connection to specific individuals and periods, and the quality of their engraving. They appeal particularly to collectors with an interest in specific historical periods, national traditions or the biographical history of particular fields of human achievement.