BRITISH portrait talent will be showcased at a new exhibition launching in Dorchester today.

The Semblance exhibition is being held at Duke's Gallery by Brewery Square until Friday, November 4.

It features a selection of works from The Arts Academy in London, with more than 30 paintings and sculptures on show.

Duke's Auctioneers has teamed up with Dorchester Arts and The Art Academy to bring the collection featuring works by some of the country's most highly regarded portrait artists and sculptors to the county town.

The collection includes works by artists who have graced the walls of the National Portrait Gallery and whose sitters have included many leading figures in politics, the arts and public life.

Among the best known is The Art Academy’s head of painting, Tai Shan Schierenberg, a former winner of the BP Portrait Award and a judge on the popular Sky TV programme Landscape Artist of the Year.

James Lloyd, another Academy tutor, has painted portraits of Dame Maggie Smith and the Queen, and another royal connection comes in the form of a horse’s head portrait by Lorne McKeane, whose sculpture of the Duke of Edinburgh on a polo pony was The Queen’s personal present to her husband on their 25th Wedding Anniversary.

The exhibition aims showcase portraiture in its broadest sense, from traditional portraits to works that push the boundaries of the term ‘portrait’.

Mark Tattersall, artistic director of Dorchester Arts and the Academy’s chair of trustees, said: “Portraiture is a fascinating artform and this exhibition brings together portrait artists of world renown with some of the UK’s best teachers of the subject and some very talented students.

"People will have a chance to see the extraordinary range of styles and techniques that are used to bring out not only a likeness but also the character of the subject."

During the exhibition the display will be free to view from 9am to 5pm from Monday to Friday.

It will also be open on Saturday, October 22 from 10am to 5pm and from 11am to 2pm on Saturday, October 29.

On Saturday, October 22 there will also be free guided tours of the exhibition at 12noon and 3.30pm by Mr Tattersall and Rob Pepper, The Academy’s vice principle.