Harewood House is home to over 300 portraits. From Sir Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough to Sir Alfred Munnings and John Singer Sargent, the Lascelles family have been painted by some of Britain’s leading portrait artists since the 18th century. 

Today, Harewood’s outstanding collection can be seen across the State Floor, ranging from iconic full-length ladies to more modern masterpieces. It tells the story of the House through the people who inhabited it and represents over 250 years of artistic patronage by a single family.

Missing Portraits

Until recently Harewood’s collection contained portraits exclusively of white, wealthy individuals, mostly members of the Lascelles family. The current Earl and Countess have begun to redress this historic lack of diversity by commissioning a series of portraits of men and women of colour who have contemporary connections to Harewood. These new portraits, very much in the formal style of historic oil portraiture, have become part of the permanent collection and are displayed alongside portraits of the past. 

The first in this series depicts Arthur France MBE, founder of the Leeds West Indian Carnival. The second features the British actor and writer, David Harewood OBE, whose ancestors were enslaved by the Lascelles family in the early 19th century.