FORMER director of the National Portrait Gallery Angus Trumble has died.

Trumble, 58, – who served as the director of the National Portrait Gallery from 2014 – 2018 – was an ebullient personality and respected scholar who presided over an outstanding period for the gallery.

One gallery staff member described him today as “such a wonderful, giddy, hungry mind.”

Trumble was born on October 6, 1964, in Melbourne, the son of Attorney Peter Campbell and Helen Trumble.

He studied Fine Arts and History at the University of Melbourne and in 1987 was an intern at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice.

Trumble studied for a year at the Bibliotheca Hertziana in Rome, then graduated with a Master of Arts (University of Melbourne) in 1993. From 1987 to 1991 he served as aide to Governor of Victoria, J. Davis McCaughey.

In 1994 Trumble won a Fulbright Scholarship for further study at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University, later returning to Australia to work at the Art Gallery of South Australia during the late 1990s.

He was a noted arts scholar and regular contributor to The Times Literary Supplement, The Burlington Magazine, the Paris Review, Esopus Magazine, and the Australian Book Review.

Trumble curated and wrote the catalogue of a number of exhibitions and was the author of “A Brief History of the Smile,” which began as a talk he gave at a conference of dentists. His other works include “The Finger: A Handbook” and he was a co-author of “Edwardian Opulence: British Art at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century.”

He was appointed curator of Paintings and Sculpture at the Yale Center for British Art in 2003, becoming Senior Curator in 2008 and serving there until January 2014, when he came to the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.

A statement issued by the National Portrait Gallery said the organisation was “devastated” by the news of Trumble’s sudden passing.

“During his tenure the institution reached many significant milestones including; becoming a statutory authority, the establishment of the Foundation and the 20th anniversary celebrations culminating in the ambitious 20/20 exhibition,” the statement said.

 “Angus was a creative, dynamic and highly regarded leader.  We are deeply saddened by the news of his passing, he will be missed by his many Portrait Gallery friends.”