Man siting down with one hand resting on each of his legs, looking towards the observer smiling. Wearing red robes with gold trim and a white shirt and tie. Dark grey background.

Three quarter length seated portrait showing the sitter turning slightly away from the viewer. He is dressed in Vice-Chancellor's robes and his hands are resting on his lap, the right stationary and the left holding a pair of spectacles. Lord Hunter of Newington graduated in Medicine from Edinburgh University in 1938, shortly after which he enlisted in the army and was posted in France for the duration of WWII. He was Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Birmingham University from 1968 to 1981. He was a central figure during the stormy period in the late 1960s when unrest among students brought sit-ins and strikes to many universities in Britain and Europe. He restored the reputation of the Medical Department after the death in 1978 of one of its laboratory assistants from smallpox. The artist, Norman Hepple (1908-1994), was a successful portrait painter, represented in the National Portrait Gallery by his portrait of Francis Evershed (1st Baron Evershed). He was the son of the painter Robert Hepple. This portrait was commissioned by the University of Birmingham in 1979.