William Dobson, Self-Portrait, c.1635-40. Image courtesy of Tate and the National Portrait Gallery

LONDON.- On International Youth Day, Tate and the National Portrait Gallery announce a national tour of William Dobson’s Self-Portrait c.1635-40. Focused on bringing together young people across the country, the forthcoming tour will connect this significant 17th century painting to a new generation. Jointly acquired in 2025 by Tate and the National Portrait Gallery, throughout 2027 the portrait will tour to Hull’s Ferens Art Gallery and Oxford’s Ashmolean before returning to London to be shown at the National Portrait Gallery. The tour and supporting programme has been made possible from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, alongside generous support from Bjorn Saven CBE, David and Emma Verey Charitable Trust and Tavolozza Foundation.

Currently on display at Tate Britain alongside Dobson’s Portrait of The Artist’s Wife c.1635-40, this October the painting will inspire a free evening of music, workshops and performances, programmed by Tate Collective Producers exclusively for Tate Collective members - Tate’s free-to-join scheme for young people aged 16-25. Working with emerging artists, the programme takes influence from both Dobson portraits to explore ideas of absence and reunion, art and intimacy, comparing portraiture across the last 400 years to spark conversations between centuries. A further new educational resource available to students across the country via Tate Schools, will bring Dobson’s work into classrooms this autumn, encouraging young people to create their own self-portraits exploring identity, pose and expression.

The UK tour of Dobson’s Self-Portrait will follow the journey of the artist’s life and career as it moves around the country. Beginning in London, where Dobson was born and studied to become an artist, the painting will travel to Hull early next year, where the first siege of the city in 1642 marked a major escalation in the conflict between King Charles I and Parliament during the build-up to the First English Civil War. Presented at Ferens Art Gallery from 31 January to 23 May 2027 to celebrate the start of the Gallery’s centenary year, the portrait will form a focal point of Art Uprising!, an exhibition exploring the region’s history of rebellion and creativity.

Young people from The Warren Youth Project will work with a musician to co-produce creative responses to the history of Hull at the time of Charles I, including a soundscape available to listen to alongside the exhibition, connecting Self-Portrait to contemporary practice and perspectives. Returning south, the painting will arrive in Oxford next summer, where Dobson took up a position as the painter for King Charles I’s exiled court. Displayed at the Ashmolean Museum from June to December 2027, here the painting will inspire artist-commissioned family workshops for children and young people. To close the tour, the work will return to London, where Dobson moved following the fall of Oxford and where he lived until his death two months later. Displayed at the National Portrait Gallery from January to July 2028, here it will be shown alongside local stories and contemporary responses, drawing on the experience of young people across the whole tour as part of the display.

William Dobson, Portrait of The Artist’s Wife, c.1635-40. Image courtesy of Tate and the National Portrait Gallery