A portrait of darts champion Luke Littler has gone on display at the National Portrait Gallery, bringing one of Britain's most talked-about young sports stars into the home of portraiture. The free display opened on Thursday 5 November, sitting alongside the gallery's annual photography prize exhibition.

The photograph was made by Hollie Fernando, who won the Winston Taylor photographic commission in 2025. Her portrait of Littler continues the gallery's tradition of commissioning new images of people shaping contemporary British life, placing a darts player in a setting more often associated with actors, politicians and royalty.

Littler's rise has been one of the striking sporting stories of recent years, turning a teenager from Warrington into a household name and drawing new, younger audiences to darts. The gallery's decision to display his portrait reflects how quickly he has moved from sporting prodigy to cultural figure.

The display is free to visit and runs outside the ticketed prize exhibition, which opens the same week. It offers visitors a chance to see a portrait of a champion at the height of his fame, made by a photographer whose own career the gallery has helped to launch. Littler, who became the youngest world darts champion when he won the title in January 2025, has since become one of the most recognisable faces in British sport. Fernando's portrait was made for the gallery's collection of contemporary portraiture, the largest of its kind in the world. The portrait will be seen by visitors alongside the prize show, which brings together the best of contemporary portrait photography from around the world.