Portrait Painting for Sale
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Despues de Guilian Wearing - Diptych
Anibal Vallejo
Painting - 50 x 40 cm Painting - 19.7 x 15.7 inch
£2,666
Disparition / Apparition
Engelmarie Sophie
Painting - 120 x 120 x 2 cm Painting - 47.2 x 47.2 x 0.8 inch
£1,367
Keanu Reeves Signed Limited Edition Photograph
Markus Klinko
Painting - 61 x 50.8 x 0.3 cm Painting - 24 x 20 x 0.1 inch
£3,649
Self-portrait 1960 AGADIR Autoportrait
Mohammed Khaïr-Eddine
Painting - 14 x 21 cm Painting - 5.5 x 8.3 inch
£1,689
2021 - 15 (Chanteur vert)
Marc Petrusa
Painting - 128 x 71 x 3 cm Painting - 50.4 x 28 x 1.2 inch
£1,600
Femme à la ceinture
Marie Thuillier
Painting - 43 x 30 x 0.1 cm Painting - 16.9 x 11.8 x 0 inch
£667
Frédérick Chopin - Les trois ages
Ryszard Owczarek
Painting - 30 x 40 cm Painting - 11.8 x 15.7 inch
£347
Through the Fog
Stephanie Blaess
Painting - 120 x 120 x 3.5 cm Painting - 47.2 x 47.2 x 1.4 inch
£3,022
Une femme africaine
Stéphane Iffono
Painting - 80 x 60 x 3 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 1.2 inch
£667
Battre la campagne
Aurélie Salvaing
Painting - 80 x 60 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
£1,555
L'amoureuse
Koffi Mounou Désiré
Painting - 100 x 100 x 4 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1.6 inch
£3,555
L'Anachorète aviateur
Bertrand Bataille
Painting - 93 x 65 x 2 cm Painting - 36.6 x 25.6 x 0.8 inch
£3,288
Ombrellino (Umbrella)
Massimo Campigli
Painting - 115 x 125 x 0.6 cm Painting - 45.3 x 49.2 x 0.2 inch
£69,319
My granny Polli
Zurab Kurchishvili
Painting - 100 x 60 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
£1,967
Commission for Melissa 50 lance
Marilyn Kalish
Painting - 40.6 x 30.5 x 0.3 cm Painting - 16 x 12 x 0.1 inch
£261
She Learned To Have Faith In Her Abilities
Grady Tomlinson Zeeman
Painting - 70 x 70 x 2.8 cm Painting - 27.6 x 27.6 x 1.1 inch
£1,955
Fantasy is a necessary ingredient
Ruby Bat Arnon
Painting - 140 x 100 x 3 cm Painting - 55.1 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
£8,887
Miss burlesque star
Artemisia Fine Art
Painting - 79.8 x 79.8 x 5.1 cm Painting - 31.4 x 31.4 x 2 inch
£3,400
Fleur Bleu (Blue flower)
Juliette Lemontey
Painting - 162.6 x 114.3 x 5.1 cm Painting - 64 x 45 x 2 inch
£7,464
Immediate Family
Dang Xuan Hoa
Painting - 67.3 x 149.9 x 5.1 cm Painting - 26.5 x 59 x 2 inch
£32,343
Baumwärts
Neeharika Donau Hossain
Painting - 100 x 100 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 0.8 inch
£880
Danser sur l'écume- Portrait de femme
Glad_is_murmuring
Painting - 29 x 29 x 3.5 cm Painting - 11.4 x 11.4 x 1.4 inch
£178
Royal Legacy Original Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
Gardani
Painting - 85.1 x 69.9 x 3.8 cm Painting - 33.5 x 27.5 x 1.5 inch
£3,317
L'Infante Marie Marguerite
Jules Milhau
Painting - 200 x 200 x 3 cm Painting - 78.7 x 78.7 x 1.2 inch
£14,219
Portrait bleu
Nathalie de la Happy Funky Family
Painting - 35 x 28 x 2 cm Painting - 13.8 x 11 x 0.8 inch
£1,422
Aes Argentumque
Raul Lara Naranjo
Painting - 80 x 80 x 1.5 cm Painting - 31.5 x 31.5 x 0.6 inch
£1,955
PINK TUBES : COTTON CANDY AND EPHEMERAL LOLITA SPECTRUM
Saori Nakamishi
Painting - 180 x 130 x 5 cm Painting - 70.9 x 51.2 x 2 inch
£6,221
Rêve d'hiver - Portrait de femme
Laurence Duc
Painting - 20 x 20 x 2 cm Painting - 7.9 x 7.9 x 0.8 inch
£267
Frankestein - Jake in the Box Theme
Mark Carpenter
Painting - 9.2 x 6 cm Painting - 3.6 x 2.4 inch
£71
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.