Why portraiture from the past and the present is so important in a home

Our columnists Robin and Patricia Silver, founders of The Home at Salts Mill, reveal why portaiture is vital to a home. When the National Portrait Gallery in London opened in 1856 it was the first of its kind anywhere in the world. Its aim was to display paintings, drawings and a few sculptures, usually busts, of the great and the good in British history.

Photographic portraits were introduced later and it is by far the largest national portrait gallery in the world.

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In most of our homes, however, you will find miniature portrait galleries. pictures of relatives who are no longer alive as well as family members and friends who are still with us.

They record important moments. The arrivals of a new born baby, school photographs, graduations, rites of passage and the most common of them all, the wedding pictures.

Pictures and photographs bring back memoriesPictures and photographs bring back memories
Pictures and photographs bring back memories

There are portraits following victorious amateur sporting occasions, a winning team or individual event with a medal or trophy prominently displayed, presented by some local dignitary.

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Then there are the holiday pictures of a beach hotel with suntanned bodies or a ski resort with padded jackets and goggles or that all too rare summer’s day barbecue in the back garden with a cloud of smoke rising from the grill.

If you know anyone who has been on a cruise, chances are you’ll have seen them waving on the deck, sitting at a dining table or feeling rather queasy. They give us the opportunity of gloating over what someone has done or where they’ve been and how great or insufferable it had been to be with them.

With the advent of digital photography, there are even more images to choose from and often the most amusing and moving shots are the most accidental ones.

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We should not forget that the original Portrait Gallery exhibits were painted or drawn and today there is still quite an appetite for commissioning family portraits despite the cost.

One original work of art that is the most common and least expensive is a child’s picture of parents usually executed with felt tip pens or wax crayons and proudly displayed on a fridge door.

But why are we so keen to adorn our walls, window sills, mantlepieces and coffee tables with portraiture? Is it to prompt memories of bygone family members or is it that we want to know our own place in history, where we come from and, perhaps, where we’re going?

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We need to remember the happy events in life and the sad ones and seeing the faces of the main protagonists is a clear trigger to achieving this. Most children love to hear about the successes, failures and near misses of their ancestors and putting a face to the story makes it more intimate and real.

Scrolling through a digital image library or flipping through old black and white or sepia snaps can be almost as rewarding as talking to the person depicted.

The National Portrait Gallery’s aim is to create person-to-person connections between the viewer and the sitter but our own home based portrait collections go even further and allow us to share experiences.

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Consequently, we keep sending pictures of ourselves to our own families and friends whilst being inundated with theirs. By seeing what we’ve been up to hopefully leads to greater sympathy and understanding.

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