Portrait Prints from the Hope Collection

This is a guide to the Hope Collection, which contains more than 80,000 portraits ranging from the 16th to the 20th centuries. It is one of the most important resources of its kind in the country, containing much material that is not available in either the British Museum or the National Portrait Gallery. It was originally presented to the University of Oxford in 1865 and has been added to ever since. Approximately half the collection consists of British portraits - royalty, nobility and distinguished members of the clergy, literary or military figures, scientists, lawyers and artists. Examples include Sir Francis Drake, Oliver Cromwell, John Wesley and Charles Dickens. There is an equal number of portraits of international figures, ranging from Queen Christine of Sweden (reigned 1632-54) to Simon Bolivar, Garibaldi and Jenny Lind in the 19th century. Few of the portraits have ever been reproduced.