Portrait Painting for Sale
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La danseuse au tutu rose
Charles De Ziegler
Painting - 80 x 63.5 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 25 x 0.8 inch
£519
#58 Wall Street Station
Chris Carolina
Painting - 100 x 81 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 31.9 x 0.8 inch
£2,222
We Don't Know How Water Is Blue #1
Tran Trong Vu
Painting - 254 x 101.6 x 2.5 cm Painting - 100 x 40 x 1 inch
£1,907
Mère et enfant
Pierre Ernest Kohl
Painting - 38.5 x 45 x 2 cm Painting - 15.2 x 17.7 x 0.8 inch
£555
Alaukik saundarya (Divine beauty)
Richa Dave
Painting - 61 x 51 x 2 cm Painting - 24 x 20.1 x 0.8 inch
£1,600
The king decides to be a normal person
Xiao Duzi
Painting - 51.5 x 62 x 0.02 cm Painting - 20.3 x 24.4 x 0 inch
£1,777
La petite nostalgique.
Jean-Pierre Blanpain
Painting - 18 x 14 x 2 cm Painting - 7.1 x 5.5 x 0.8 inch
£622
Portrait d'une dame assise sur un banc de jardin
Marcel-René Chassard
Painting - 57.5 x 48 x 2 cm Painting - 22.6 x 18.9 x 0.8 inch
£546
Le serpent qui danse (diptyque)
Marie Anglade
Painting - 100 x 200 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 78.7 x 0.8 inch
£1,777
Plages du Brésil - Paysage marin abstrait et sculpture homme
Rosana Faustino
Painting - 15 x 15 x 0.3 cm Painting - 5.9 x 5.9 x 0.1 inch
£258
Portrait on a Traditionnal carpet XXL
Jacqueline Klein Breteler
Painting - 170 x 120 x 1 cm Painting - 66.9 x 47.2 x 0.4 inch
£1,413
La Capucine
William Oxer F.R.S.A.
Painting - 55.9 x 38.1 x 2.5 cm Painting - 22 x 15 x 1 inch
£1,824
Afternoon Coffee
Nguyen Vinh Trung
Painting - 165.1 x 144.8 x 5.1 cm Painting - 65 x 57 x 2 inch
£7,464
Portrait de femme au foulard vert
Georges Dessouslavy
Painting - 41 x 33 x 2 cm Painting - 16.1 x 13 x 0.8 inch
£474
Le sens de la vie
Paul Flickinger
Painting - 62 x 51 x 0.2 cm Painting - 24.4 x 20.1 x 0.1 inch
£1,200
Sleeping Beauty
Cathrine Ockernahl
Painting - 120 x 100 x 2 cm Painting - 47.2 x 39.4 x 0.8 inch
£4,132
Old woman living near sea
Vu Nhu Hai
Painting - 88.9 x 94 x 5.1 cm Painting - 35 x 37 x 2 inch
£4,561
Le soleil est dans tes yeux - I
Leona Rose
Painting - 130 x 103 cm Painting - 51.2 x 40.6 inch
£3,110
Hannya One: The burden of darkness, the promise of light
Taira Akiko Hiraguri
Painting - 41 x 41 cm Painting - 16.1 x 16.1 inch
£1,377
Smooth Operator
John Herbert Wright
Painting - 137.2 x 147.3 x 2.5 cm Painting - 54 x 58 x 1 inch
£8,293
True Self III
Elijah Emmanuel Wilson
Painting - 30 x 35 x 2 cm Painting - 11.8 x 13.8 x 0.8 inch
£1,466
Obirin Asiko (Fashionable Woman)
Oladimeji Alabi
Painting - 61 x 53.3 x 2.5 cm Painting - 24 x 21 x 1 inch
£2,903
Marilyn crying (Fire red)
Russell Young
Painting - 66 x 50.8 x 4 cm Painting - 26 x 20 x 1.6 inch
£15,997
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
£768
Circus Acrobats
Joanna Zakrzewska-Cholewa
Sculpture - 49 x 15 x 6 cm Sculpture - 19.3 x 5.9 x 2.4 inch
£1,421
The beauty of dance XII
Serghei Ghetiu
Painting - 80 x 49 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 19.3 x 0.8 inch
£1,511
The Last Museum Guard at the Last Museum on Earth
Hernan Bas
Print - 49 x 35 cm Print - 19.3 x 13.8 inch
£1,066
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
£995
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.