Sir Paul donates Linda McCartney photographs to V&A

Linda McCartney died from breast cancer in 1998

Sir Paul McCartney has donated 63 photographs by his late wife Linda McCartney to the V&A in London.

The collection includes portraits of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix, as well as McCartney family snaps.

Some of her original Polaroids will be shown to the public for the first time.

The images by the former US female photographer of the year will go on display in the V&A's new Photography Centre when it opens on 12 October.

Some of the photos are intimate family portraits

Martin Barnes, senior curator of photographs at the V&A, said: "Linda McCartney was a talented eye-witness of pop culture and explored many creative approaches to artistic photography. Her camera also captured tender moments with her family.

"Our greatest thanks go to Sir Paul McCartney and his family for this incredibly generous gift."

Linda McCartney was voted US female photographer of the year in 1967, the same year she met Paul in a London nightclub.

The collection includes this shot of the Beatles in 1967 at Brian Epstein's house

The following year, she became the first female photographer to have her work featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine with her portrait of Eric Clapton.

She was the first person to not only have photographed Rolling Stone's cover, but to have appeared on the magazine's front cover herself, with her husband, in 1974.

The couple married in 1969 and had four children - Stella, Heather, Mary and James - before her death from breast cancer in 1998.