This Spring Burberry sponsors The National Portrait Gallery to showcase a stunning collection of portraits from the Vanity Fair archives. Classics rub shoulders with rare stills that chronicle the magazine's early period in 1913 up to its relaunch and renaissance in the 80s. Don't Panic take a look at five of the very best:

Hillary Swank by Norman Jean Roy, 2005 (above)

In case you’re wondering who Hillary Swank is - she’s an award winning skydiver, white water rafter and skier. At age 16 she competed (swimming) in the Children’s Olympics and she’s a top ranking gymnast. Oh, and she also happens to be an actress. You wouldn’t know that from Jean Roy’s empowering sporting portrait of her mid-flight, but it could well be her training for Clint Eastwood’s boxing drama Million Dollar Baby.

Jean Harlow by George Hurrell, 1934

Long before Monroe was straddling an air vent in the publicity stunt of a life time, there was Jean Harlow. The original blonde bombshell is immortalised here by the legendary George Hurrell - head of MGM Photography. It was taken at the climax of her career, but only three years before her premature death in 1937. She starred in only ten films but was a comedy ingénue and her platinum beauty sealed a legacy. Perhaps Hurrell had in mind her immortal line from Hell’s Angels when he shot this still: “Would you be shocked if I slipped into something more comfortable?” No Jean. We’d be in heaven.

Helen Mirren by Lord Snowden, 1995.

Seven series of Prime Suspect back to back will most likely dull any actress’s former theatrical glamour, but Lord Snowdon re-coups exactly this. He uses light to modernise a sumptuous nod to silver screen grandeur. It refines Helen’s mature beauty and although he plays the voyeur, Helen holds grace. She also proves sexuality can belong to any age.

Mick Jagger, Madonna and Tony Curtis by Dafydd Jones, 1997

Dafydd Jones is a man of mystery when it comes to chronicling the rich and famous. He slips through the silken, social circles as quiet as a ghost so he can shoot remarkable people in unremarkable poses. The candid body language of his subjects offers intrigue and personality, such as Madonna and Tony Curtis ignoring Mick Jagger at the 1997 Oscars. Dafydd was the Bailey of the 80s, photographing the renaissance of the fashion world for Vanity Fair, Tatler and the New York Observer, of which he commented:  “it was a pleasant relief from going to parties”.

Run DMC by Jonas Karlsson.

How do you re-invent 80s pioneering hip-hop band Run DMC after they went mainstream, got violent and fell silent; losing their third and founding member Jay Mizell to a shoot out? Jonas Karlsson knew how. He took the two remaining ‘Rolling Stones of the rap game’ out to sea in a beautiful pea-green Cadillac. The car-boat (yes, it’s actually a boat), floated across New York Harbour and Karlsson - with the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop for a touch of epic grandeur. The portrait is pure fantasy, but its context is true to the band’s roots – they all grew up in the New York City borough of Queens and made their musical breakthrough there.

VANITY FAIR PORTRAITS: PHOTOGRAPHS 1913 - 2008
14 February 26 May 2008, £10 Concessions £9/8, Wolfson Gallery