Portraits from Chatsworth

Nicholas Cullinan & Bella Freud
As part of Sotheby’s summer season in celebration of portraiture, and to coincide with the reopening of the National Portrait Gallery in June 2023 and the loan exhibition, Portraits from Chatsworth, on view at Sotheby’s London until 4 July, Nicholas Cullinan (Director, National Portrait Gallery, London and Trustee of Chatsworth House Trust) and Bella Freud (Fashion Designer) will examine the stories behind the three brilliant portraits of the Devonshire family painted by Bella’s father, Lucian Freud, including the famous ‘Woman in a White Shirt' which marked a turning point in the artist’s style.

Meet the Panel

Nicholas Cullinan

Nicholas Cullinan took up his position as the Director of the National Portrait Gallery in spring 2015 following his role as Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Prior to this, from 2007 to 2013, Nicholas was Curator of International Modern Art at Tate Modern where he co-curated an exhibition of Henri Matisse's cut-outs with Sir Nicholas Serota in 2014. Nicholas received his BA, MA and PhD in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London and in 2006–7 he held the Hilla Rebay International Fellowship at the Guggenheim museums in Bilbao, New York and Venice.

Bella Freud

Since establishing her namesake label in 1990, Bella Freud has moved between the mediums of clothing design, interior design, perfume making, filmmaking and publishing – redefining what it means to be a designer. Along the way she has collaborated with leaders in these respective fields, shooting three films directed by the actor John Malkovich; printing a magazine entitled Memo with the late Anita Pallenberg; realising a penthouse at the Television Centre home and office complex in London with architect and interior designer Maria Speake, the co-founder of the Retrouvius, and designing limited edition knitwear with singer-songwriter Nick Cave. Her own clothing designs meanwhile have garnered a cult following amongst the likes of Kate Moss, Little Simz, Juliette Lewis, Zadie Smith, Sienna Miller, Olivia Wilde and Rebecca Hall.