Portrait Painting for Sale
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Dyptique du dimanche
Nathan Chantob
Painting - 100 x 100 x 1 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 0.4 inch
£5,332
Portrait No 90
Renjie Gao
Painting - 100 x 80 x 4.5 cm Painting - 39.4 x 31.5 x 1.8 inch
£1,777 £1,511
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
£1,422
Pharaoh (Akhenaten) and Nefertiti
Artur Hakobjanyan
Painting - 60 x 50 x 2 cm Painting - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch
£746
Infinity Of Love
Kirill Postovit
Painting - 68 x 105 x 2 cm Painting - 26.8 x 41.3 x 0.8 inch
£1,333
Oris 3 (série de 40 têtes)
Kevin-Ademola Sangosanya
Painting - 48 x 28 cm Painting - 18.9 x 11 inch
£1,333
Femme au Chapeau
Carlos Antonio Sablon Perez
Painting - 70 x 50 x 4 cm Painting - 27.6 x 19.7 x 1.6 inch
£5,332 £4,532
Portrait No.9 Bullfighter
Renjie Gao
Painting - 60 x 50 x 4 cm Painting - 23.6 x 19.7 x 1.6 inch
£889 £755
Homme attablé avec fruits
Pascal Marlin
Painting - 81 x 65 x 2 cm Painting - 31.9 x 25.6 x 0.8 inch
£1,111
Les bleus à l'âme 2
Ghislaine Ferreira
Painting - 100 x 81 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 31.9 x 0.8 inch
£844
Les bleus à l'âme 1
Ghislaine Ferreira
Painting - 100 x 81 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 31.9 x 0.8 inch
£844
Femme en bleu
Ghislaine Ferreira
Painting - 92 x 73 x 2 cm Painting - 36.2 x 28.7 x 0.8 inch
£1,777 £1,600
La petite fille et son chien
Zafi
Painting - 100 x 100 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 0.8 inch
£4,444
Portrait of a Young Man
Zakhar Shevchuk
Painting - 60 x 60 x 2 cm Painting - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
£1,777
Portrait of the Artist
Zakhar Shevchuk
Painting - 80 x 60 x 0.3 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
£1,777
Christian guerrier
Ghislaine Ferreira
Painting - 90 x 73 x 2 cm Painting - 35.4 x 28.7 x 0.8 inch
£862
Sérénité - série silhouette de femme
Francine Cordier
Painting - 80 x 80 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 31.5 x 0.8 inch
£1,164
Entre nous - série silhouette de femme
Francine Cordier
Painting - 80 x 80 x 3.5 cm Painting - 31.5 x 31.5 x 1.4 inch
£1,164
Mother and daughter
James Earley
Painting - 100 x 70 x 3 cm Painting - 39.4 x 27.6 x 1.2 inch
£6,047
Portrait of a woman
Kouta Sasai
Painting - 37 x 34.5 x 1 cm Painting - 14.6 x 13.6 x 0.4 inch
£1,298
N°1314 - in the town
Mehdi Dashti
Painting - 186 x 145 x 5 cm Painting - 73.2 x 57.1 x 2 inch
£5,332
Discover the styles & movements
Discover the selection of our experts
A boy with a violin
Serghei Ghetiu
Painting - 60 x 50 x 2 cm Painting - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch
£800 £680
Circus Acrobats
Joanna Zakrzewska-Cholewa
Sculpture - 49 x 15 x 6 cm Sculpture - 19.3 x 5.9 x 2.4 inch
£1,421
Her Softness
Kirill Postovit
Painting - 100 x 70 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 27.6 x 0.8 inch
£1,333 £813
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
L'envole I - préchauffage
Patricia Dubois
Painting - 93 x 70 x 3.5 cm Painting - 36.6 x 27.6 x 1.4 inch
£1,955
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 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.