Portrait Painting for Sale
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Pennyfield Close
George Pinder
Painting - 100 x 80 x 4.8 cm Painting - 39.4 x 31.5 x 1.9 inch
$4,566
Generational feelings 24
David Murcia
Painting - 120 x 80 x 4 cm Painting - 47.2 x 31.5 x 1.6 inch
$4,322
Longing - diptych
Ruslana Levandovska
Painting - 61 x 91.4 x 1.9 cm Painting - 24 x 36 x 0.75 inch
$9,200
Circé 2.0
Sylvie Julkowski-Egard
Painting - 162 x 114 x 2 cm Painting - 63.8 x 44.9 x 0.8 inch
$5,581
I Won't Die, I'll Live Forever
Dasha Pogodina
Painting - 94 x 94 x 2.5 cm Painting - 37 x 37 x 1 inch
$1,563
La tête à l'envers
Ghislaine Ferreira
Painting - 80 x 65 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 25.6 x 0.8 inch
$703
To live a life...
Jean-Jacques Venturini
Painting - 78 x 55 x 3 cm Painting - 30.7 x 21.7 x 1.2 inch
$558
Jolies Dames
Martine Fauve Dechavanne
Painting - 80 x 80 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 31.5 x 0.8 inch
$2,121
Essen 19., Mixed Media on Canvas
Jason Lincoln Jeffers
Painting - 76.2 x 61 x 3.8 cm Painting - 30 x 24 x 1.5 inch
$1,350
Now the world is me
Gabriela Sroga
Painting - 90 x 90 x 0.5 cm Painting - 35.4 x 35.4 x 0.2 inch
$3,349
Maud - Abstrait nu N°9
Aurélie Trabaud
Painting - 40 x 30 x 1 cm Painting - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
$1,105
Just Before The Storm
Jérémie d'Angelo
Painting - 100 x 243 x 3 cm Painting - 39.4 x 95.7 x 1.2 inch
$10,046
Rare Lichtenstein Street Art Girl
Freda People Art
Painting - 105 x 105 x 0.3 cm Painting - 41.3 x 41.3 x 0.1 inch
$1,340
Retrato en fondo amarillo
Enrique Pichardo
Painting - 183 x 153 x 5 cm Painting - 72 x 60.2 x 2 inch
$5,547
Retrato en fondo rojo
Enrique Pichardo
Painting - 200 x 130 x 5 cm Painting - 78.7 x 51.2 x 2 inch
$5,152
La jeune fille à la perle
Marie KVK
Painting - 120 x 80 x 4 cm Painting - 47.2 x 31.5 x 1.6 inch
$5,023
Portrait with koi fishes
Ara Gasparyan
Painting - 60 x 40 x 2 cm Painting - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0.8 inch
$850
Femme à l'enfant
Emmanuelle Vroelant
Painting - 60 x 73 x 3 cm Painting - 23.6 x 28.7 x 1.2 inch
$2,791
The scene shifters III
Olivier Massebeuf
Painting - 130 x 89 x 2.5 cm Painting - 51.2 x 35 x 1 inch
$1,563
"Et la tendresse?" figuratif portrait acrylique sable sur lin 100x100cm 2021
Emmanuelle Vroelant
Painting - 100 x 100 x 4 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1.6 inch
$4,688
Freddie Mercury 2
Iryna Kastsova
Painting - 130 x 90 x 2 cm Painting - 51.2 x 35.4 x 0.8 inch
$5,414
Madame Graipo la mercière
Robert Combas
Painting - 65 x 60 x 1 cm Painting - 25.6 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$39,070
Discover the styles & movements
Discover the selection of our experts
The tree of life
Seyran Gasparyan
Painting - 50 x 60 x 2 cm Painting - 19.7 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
$1,200 $1,020
Scarface - The World is Yours
Belart Collective
Print - 101 x 77 x 4 cm Print - 39.8 x 30.3 x 1.6 inch
$2,780
Circus Acrobats
Joanna Zakrzewska-Cholewa
Sculpture - 49 x 15 x 6 cm Sculpture - 19.3 x 5.9 x 2.4 inch
$1,785
Her Softness
Kirill Postovit
Painting - 100 x 70 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 27.6 x 0.8 inch
$1,674 $1,021
The beauty of dance XII
Serghei Ghetiu
Painting - 80 x 49 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 19.3 x 0.8 inch
$1,898
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
L'envole I - préchauffage
Patricia Dubois
Painting - 93 x 70 x 3.5 cm Painting - 36.6 x 27.6 x 1.4 inch
$2,456
The Last Museum Guard at the Last Museum on Earth
Hernan Bas
Print - 49 x 35 cm Print - 19.3 x 13.8 inch
$1,340
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.