Benjamin Britten: a life in pictures

Interesting display at the National Portrait Gallery of photographs of Benjamin Britten and his circle to mark his centenary.

I loved the pictures of him as a child particularly one of him aged 6 with his mother in a production of The Water Babies. You can’t help but compare it with the later one of him with the children in his opera’s such as a lovely rehearsal picture of Noyes Fludde including a child with a squirrel on its head!

A lot of the pictures were of people he worked with and made up a wonderful study of the musical and artistic world in post war Britain. I loved the photo of Tippet by Bill Brandt with his set off centre against an abstract looking background. Also the informality of a snap of Britten, Peter Pears and John and Myfanwy Piper in Venice.

I must admit to a certain delight at spotting John Shirley Quirk on one picture as he was at university with my parents!

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