Expert Artist Panel: 'Portrait Painting Today' Hosted by Renowned Curator Dr Alison Smith at Mall Galleries, London

Complementing The Art of Arnold Friberg exhibition, the panel discussion Portrait Painting Today: Tradition, Truth, and Relevance takes place on Saturday 14 February at 2.30pm, hosted by renowned curator Dr Alison Smith, with award-winning artists Miriam Escofet, Antony Williams, and Frances Bell. Presented by Nicholls Art Group , London and First Freedom Art Company, Houston

Dr Alison Smith is Director of Collections and Research at the Wallace Collection and former Chief Curator of the National Portrait Gallery.

Miriam Escofet is a Barcelona-born British portrait painter whose work is classically inspired and executed with exceptional technical precision. She is the winner of the 2018 BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery and painted HM Queen Elizabeth II for the Foreign Office.

Frances Bell is a British portrait painter trained at the Charles H. Cecil Studios in Florence. She has won more than 25 major awards, including the Draper Grand Prize from the Portrait Society of America - the most prestigious portraiture award in the United States - and the William Lock Portrait Award.

Antony Williams is a British portrait painter renowned for his uncompromising realism and masterful use of egg tempera. He painted Queen Elizabeth II in 1996, In 2024, he was awarded First Prize in the Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery.