Portrait Painting for Sale
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La poupée celestial
Jaume Queralt
Painting - 100 x 100 x 3 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
$12,614
Existence 3
Shijirbaatar Jambalsuren
Painting - 50 x 45 x 1 cm Painting - 19.7 x 17.7 x 0.4 inch
$2,204
Le vieux Korodouga 1
Amadou Opa Bathily
Painting - 118 x 130 x 5 cm Painting - 46.5 x 51.2 x 2 inch
$4,205
Our fearless mothers, who bathed in the shadows
Massoud Hayoun
Painting - 61 x 91 x 5 cm Painting - 24 x 35.8 x 2 inch
$4,094
Cavalier avec un glaive sur canapé
Victorien Bazo
Painting - 90 x 70 x 5 cm Painting - 35.4 x 27.6 x 2 inch
$3,541
L’enfant de la Liane
Clémence Dupuch
Painting - 115 x 90 x 3 cm Painting - 45.3 x 35.4 x 1.2 inch
$1,992
Drain color
Cynthia Coulombe-Bégin
Painting - 76.2 x 76.2 x 3.8 cm Painting - 30 x 30 x 1.5 inch
$1,895
Désintégration (La princesse aux petits pois)
Céline Achour
Painting - 100 x 73 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 28.7 x 0.8 inch
$1,770
Histoire de Guadeloupe 6
Françoise Sémiramoth
Painting - 130 x 97 x 1 cm Painting - 51.2 x 38.2 x 0.4 inch
$13,278
My Help Has Come
Agwunwa Theophilus
Painting - 86.1 x 80 x 2.5 cm Painting - 33.9 x 31.5 x 1 inch
$2,150
The Birth of Venus
Jeremy Bianco
Painting - 100 x 80 x 3 cm Painting - 39.4 x 31.5 x 1.2 inch
$4,205
French School - PS 241 Noyée dans Monet Impressionnist
Bazévian Delacapucinière
Painting - 61 x 46 x 2 cm Painting - 24 x 18.1 x 0.8 inch
$1,770
Epicycle - série portrait onirique et surréalisme
Samuel Boudaud
Painting - 70 x 50 x 2 cm Painting - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch
$2,351
Feline and feathered friends
Anahit Mirijanyan
Painting - 70 x 50 x 2 cm Painting - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch
$600
Unique (African Allure) 4
Oluwafemi Akanmu
Painting - 81.3 x 61 x 2.5 cm Painting - 32 x 24 x 1 inch
$2,100
Silence of being
Mayra AleJandra Lifischtz
Painting - 50 x 50 x 3 cm Painting - 19.7 x 19.7 x 1.2 inch
$1,200
Alexandria’s Genesis
Paris Sergiou
Painting - 120 x 120 x 3 cm Painting - 47.2 x 47.2 x 1.2 inch
$1,383
Bleasure 7 (The Invented Destiny)
Ajegbomogun Damilola
Painting - 121.9 x 106.7 x 2.5 cm Painting - 48 x 42 x 1 inch
$3,250
Eye see you 1/3
Stephanie Larène
Painting - 78 x 106 x 1 cm Painting - 30.7 x 41.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,217
La dama del armiño
Miguel Oñate
Painting - 141 x 103 x 3 cm Painting - 55.5 x 40.6 x 1.2 inch
$6,639
Girl with a yellow ball and a white dog
Sasha Katinauskiene
Painting - 50 x 40 x 2 cm Painting - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0.8 inch
$1,106
It_helped_me_diamond
Axel Jenny
Painting - 125 x 100 x 0.1 cm Painting - 49.2 x 39.4 x 0 inch
$2,213
Afrocentric Radiance
Bakare Abubakri-sideeq Babatunde
Painting - 139.7 x 124.5 x 2.5 cm Painting - 55 x 49 x 1 inch
$3,400
Marianne
Christophe Létua aka Tophe
Painting - 80 x 60 x 4 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 1.6 inch
$1,549
My Peregrinations 4
Damola Ayegbayo
Painting - 121.9 x 91.4 x 2.5 cm Painting - 48 x 36 x 1 inch
$2,800
La Joconde au fil Rouge
Nicolas Fropo de Habart
Painting - 65 x 50 x 2.5 cm Painting - 25.6 x 19.7 x 1 inch
$763
La guerre du feu 1
Thibault Franc
Painting - 100 x 80 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 31.5 x 0.8 inch
$1,660
Discover the styles & movements
Discover the selection of our experts
Serie Terra Retrato en fondo beige
Enrique Pichardo
Painting - 70 x 70 x 1 cm Painting - 27.6 x 27.6 x 0.4 inch
$956
Inventoriage biométrique
Gopal Dagnogo
Fine Art Drawings - 220 x 220 x 0.3 cm Fine Art Drawings - 86.6 x 86.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,095
Circus Acrobats
Joanna Zakrzewska-Cholewa
Sculpture - 49 x 15 x 6 cm Sculpture - 19.3 x 5.9 x 2.4 inch
$1,769 $1,593
Portrait #2. From the Portraits series
Luigi Christopher Veggetti Kanku
Painting - 30 x 20.8 x 0.3 cm Painting - 11.8 x 8.2 x 0.1 inch
$1,200
Portrait Painting for Sale
Portraiture is one of the most important subjects in painting. The discipline has changed significantly over time and has a fascinating history.
In antiquity, portraits were exclusively reserved for gods and the most influential people in society. Paintings and statues representing the bodies of the deceased were erected to decorate tombs in Egypt. They weren't realistic but rather had a very standardized way of representing each part of the body.
In contrast to the Egyptians, painters and sculptors in Greece, who had a more in depth knowledge of the human anatomy, were more concerned about realism. Many portrait paintings from this period were done on vases and depicted gods and mythological scenes.
In the Middle Ages, most portraits paintings were commissioned and featuring the most important people of the time; they were painted into religious scenes to emphasize their piety and faith, along with their social status. Once these works of art had been painted, they were often donated to churches and monasteries.
The Renaissance marked a renewal for the arts and portrait painting was no exception. At the beginning of this period, artists were unconcerned about lifelike, realistic work. Sitters or the subjects represented were identifiable through the use of symbolic objects and the inclusion of their name.
Giotto revolutionized portraiture by imitating sculpture. He began to paint shadows, the subjects' expressions, effects of depth and began to use foreshortening. His knowledge soon began to spread.
Brunelleschi then introduced the idea of perspective in architecture, a concept which Masaccio adapted to painting. Italy became the center of portrait painting and the most important Italian families (including the Médici family) commissioned artwork by the best painters. Competition between these painters led them to innovate and led them to produce some of the greatest artworks in history. The most famous is undoubtedly the Mona Lisa by Leonardo de Vinci.
In Northern Europe during the 16th century, Flemish art was restricted by iconoclasm during the Reformation, a period during the depiction of religious figures was banned. Artists turned to courtly art which was particularly popular during the following centuries. A century earlier, Flemish art had marked a turning point with Jan Van Eyck, the inventor of oil painting (the preferred painting technique of Renaissance painters) and master of detailed realism, who influenced an entire generation of Flemish painters.
Over the following centuries, portrait painting continued to be an art form for the elite of society, but painters grew increasingly concerned about depicting realistic figures and communicating the sitter's inner world and emotions. The 20th century saw a growing trend: subjects were not painted to look beautiful (sometimes to their great dismay).
At the end of the 19th century, Impressionist painters became less reliant on sculpted models and sculpture's influence. They left their studios and painted portraits outside, “en plein air." They captured the light as they saw it and painted groups of people together rather than in in several stages.
Modern and contemporary art of the 20th century saw anything go when it came to portraits. Artists like Gustav Klimt, Pablo Picasso, Paul Gauguin and Lucien Freud turned traditional techniques and codified rules on their heads and developed their own unique styles.
Discover portraits by Philippe Pasqua, Robert Combas, Guangyu Dai and Erró on Artsper.
What is meant by portrait painting?
A portrait painting is a painted artwork that depicts a person. A portrait painting usually depicts the upper body of a sitter, for example from the shoulders up.
What art style is a portrait?
A portrait can be created in various different art styles and forms, including sculpture, painting and drawing.
What makes a good portrait?
A portrait can be considered a good work of art for a variety of reasons, including its handling of light, tone and color, its likeness to the person it represents, or its expression of emotion.